Vallikode: The payasams or desserts during the Onam season is going to be sweeter as the famed Vazhamuttom jaggery is all set to enter the market, again. The jaggery production has been revived after the farmers have restarted sugarcane cultivation, that was stopped in the region, years ago.
Currently, sugarcane is being cultivated in the Mayalil, Vazhamuttom and Vazhamuttom East regions. The panchayat, meanwhile, has decided to grant Rs 10,000 per hector to the farmers in order to promote sugarcane farming.
The farmers have decided to restart sugarcane cultivation as the produce won’t be affected by the seasonal floods. Besides, the locally produced sugarcane has been fetching them decent income too. The farming that began last year, had earned the farmers amazing profits and soon got extended to ten acres of land.
This year, sugarcane has been planted in fifteen acres of land. The Madhuri variety that was brought from the Pandalam agriculture farm and CA 86032 variety procured from the sugarcane producers’ group were farmed. Meanwhile, around four tonnes of jaggery were made at a private production unit in the area. The farmers are hopeful that they could produce up to six tonnes of jaggery this year. Moreover, fresh jaggery is sold at the sugarcane preservation unit managed by the Vallikode sugarcane producers association, near the Mayalil Thrikovil Sree Padmanaba Swamy temple.
