COURTESY HT JULY 16

Jaggery, raw sugar to boost fiscal health of Haryana’s coop sugar mills
Neeraj Mohan

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Karnal : With demand for jaggery and raw sugar increasing, the Haryana government plans to start jaggery production in two cooperative sugarmills during the crushing season, which begins from the first week of November.

State agriculture department officials said two cooperative sugar mills in Kaithal and Palwal had been identified for the pilot project. Additional chief secretary, agriculture, Sanjeev Kaushal, said, “We have decided to produce jaggery in two cooperative sugarmills as there is huge market for jaggery and jaggery powder (raw sugar).”

Officials of the Haryana Sugarfed also visited the Budhewal co-op sugar mill of Punjab, which is famous for its ‘Fateh’ brand of jaggery and sugar.

“Good quality jaggery is being sold for around Rs 70-80 per kg. We can produce good quality items for the people of our state”, he said adding, the production may be increased by involving more sugarmills if it gets good response.

Officials associated with the project said the decision was being taken following a dip in the demand for sugar, following which the prices of sugar had dropped to Rs 35 per kg.On the other hand, jaggery prices have increased to around Rs 50 to Rs 70, depending on quality. Moreover, officials said the production cost of jaggery is less than that of sugar.

“There are around 300 jaggery units in Yamunanagar and Ambala districts but still Haryana depends upon Uttar Pradesh for good quality produce,” said a senior officer of Haryana Sugarfed. Officials of the Kaithal Cooperative Sugarmill conducted a survey and told the government that there was a demand for 5,000 quintals of jaggery in mill area