Steep fall in cultivation sours Anakapalle's jaggery dreams

Visakhapatnam: Jaggery production, once a thriving cottage industry in Anakapalle district of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, has been steadily losing ground in recent years due to a decline in sugarcane cultivation, labour shortages, rising production costs, and dwindling profits.

Jaggery Town, as it is popularly known, Anakapalle is witnessing a sharp fall in the number of farmers engaged in jaggery production. Losses, shrinking area under sugarcane cultivation, closure of cooperative sugar mills, and low returns have pushed many sugarcane growers to shift to other commercial crops.

About a decade ago, the Anakapalle jaggery market, considered the second biggest in the country, had received around 40 lakh jaggery lumps (each lump weighing 10 to 12 kg) in a year . However, things have changed drastically as the arrival of jaggery lumps declined to 7.5 lakh (1,14,697 quintals) in 2023-24 fiscal year and 7.33 lakh (1,10,218 quintals) in 2024-25 fiscal year. The turnover has decreased from 63.4 crore in 2021-22 to 42.1 crore in 2023-24 and 39.29 crore in 2024-25.

While jaggery does not fall under the category of direct agricultural produce eligible for an official Minimum Support Price (MSP), jaggery makers in the Anakapalle region have been demanding an MSP of 5,000 per quintal to sustain the industry

D Shankuntala, market committee secretary of Anakapalle jaggery market, acknowledged that the steep fall in jaggery arrivals at the market was mainly due to the decline in sugarcane cultivation and closure of several jaggery production units.

This decline was cited as a major reason for the fall in jaggery production.

Currently, only a few jaggery-making units are operational in Anakapalle district, a far cry from its once glorious past.