Price drop adds a bitter tinge to flavour of season

It is that time of the year when the air on the outskirts of

Madurai

turns sweet as the aroma of hot jaggery wafts out of the units working overtime to meet the demand for the traditional sweetener ahead of Pongal. But this year, religious turmoil in the main market for these jaggery making units in Madurai — Kerala, where it is in demand to make prasadam and as a sweetener — has raised concerns in the industry.

Among the nearly dozen jaggery units in and around Kotaimedu and Kallanai is the unit of 45-year-old Jothivel. "There are a few issues and prices are lower than last year, but we are trying to ensure that this does not affect production," he says. Six of a family from Udumalpet in Tirupur work for him. The family of 59-year-old P Dhandapani begins preparations as early as 3am and works till 6pm, with a few breaks in between. During the jaggery making season that roughly lasts eight months from June to February, this is the routine they follow.

The juice is boiled and manually stirred for hours



For Pongal last year, a chippam (measure for jaggery, worth 30kg) was sold for `1,250. Now it has dropped to `1,050 per chippam. In the wholesale market, it is priced at `50 to `60 per kg.

Jaggery making is a labour intensive process. The day begins with crushing cane to extract juice, the only mechanized step. The juice is then poured into a ‘coparai’ (metal vessel) and boiled and constantly stirred, till it reaches a semi-solid state. It is then poured into a wooden tray, where the stirring continues till it solidifies. As the temperature reduces, it is ready to be rolled. As Dandapani prepares to roll the balls by hand, he says, "The jaggery is cool enough to be handled, but it is still hot. Only expert hands can manage, others will be left with boils." His family joins him after greasing their palms with castor oil, to avoid the jaggery from sticking to their hands.

After it reaches a consistency, the concentrate is poured into moulds

It takes nearly two hours to make jaggery out of a batch of 1,000kg sugarcane; the whole system is repeated at least five times a day to make 500 kg of jaggery. At the end of the day, the balls are packed in sacks and taken to the market in Madurai.

Jothivel grows sugarcane on 30 acres land and uses it all in his unit. "This season is not as sweet as the previous years as cane production was hit by Pyricularia oryzae disease. Jaggery units said their numbers were dwindling and they needed the state’s support to sustain.

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