Idukki, Kerala: The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the jaggery production at Marayur which is famous for its jaggery. The acute shortage of skilled labour has impacted jaggery production.
Sugarcane is grown over 600 ha land in Marayur and Kanthallur villages for producing Marayur jaggery at the household level.
According to The Hindu newspaper, Selvin Mariyappam, chief of Marayur Hill Agriculture Development Society (MHADC) said, “The farmers here depend on labourers from Tamil Nadu, and since the lockdown was announced, the labourers have stopped coming.”
Here harvesting usually gets done with the rotating system. This ensures that there is jaggery production throughout the year in Marayur. But the current situation has hit the system and impacted the jaggery production.
From April onwards, the production per week has dropped from 14 tonne to below four tonnes.
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