Visakhapatnam: Anakapalle district in north coastal Andhra Pradesh, once famously known as “Jaggery Town,” is witnessing a steady decline in its jaggery production, a key industry that has long sustained the region’s economy.
The fall in sugarcane cultivation, combined with labour shortages, rising production costs, and shrinking profits, has pushed many farmers away from jaggery production. As a result, the number of farmers engaged in the trade has been steadily decreasing, with many abandoning sugarcane in favour of other commercial crops.
The closure of cooperative sugar mills and poor financial returns have further fueled the shift. Once bustling, the jaggery market at Anakapalle town, the second largest in the country, is now struggling to survive.
Just a decade ago, the Anakapalle jaggery market used to receive about 40 lakh lumps of jaggery annually, each lump weighing between 10 and 12 kilograms. However, arrivals have drastically dropped to 7.52 lakh lumps in the 2023–24 financial year, and further to 7.33 lakh lumps in 2024–25.
Acknowledging the decline in jaggery arrivals, D. Shankuntala, Secretary of the Anakapalle Jaggery Market Committee, said, “The fall in sugarcane cultivation and the closure of many traditional jaggery-making units are the main reasons behind the drop in production. Only a few units are still operational, and most have shut down because of mounting losses.”
According to Karri Appa Rao, President of the AP Sugarcane Farmers’ Sangam, the number of sugar mills in the state has also declined from 29 in 2014, including 10 cooperative and 19 private mills, to just five mills (one cooperative and four private) by 2025.
Adding to the concern, Sharath Kumar K.V., a third-generation trader in the Anakapalle jaggery market, said, “Anakapalle is losing its traditional identity. Demand for Anakapalle jaggery is falling even in other states. Meanwhile, producers in Maharashtra and Karnataka, who have set up jaggery powder units and sell neatly packed jaggery blocks, are dominating the market. Unfortunately, we do not have a single jaggery powder unit here.”
Farmers, jaggery makers, and traders have been urging the government to support the industry by setting up jaggery powder units, reviving closed sugar factories, and ensuring better prices for sugarcane and jaggery. However, they say their appeals have largely been overlooked by successive governments.
