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Mudhol jaggery heads to Russia

Last Updated 04 February 2015, 20:46 IST

The ties between India and Russia have always been sweet. As if to symbolise the cordial relations between the two countries, a trader from Russian capital Moscow has started buying the organic produce from the jaggery park at Mudhol in the district, for consumption in his country.

The jaggery park is the popular name of the Jaggery Technology Institute of the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, in Mudhol.

Alexander Usanin, the jaggery trader, is in Mudhol and has already exported a 25-tonne consignment of powdered jaggery to Moscow through Mumbai.

He is purchasing more of the jaggery powder from the producing farmers and plans to take home another 250 tonnes of the prime sweetener.

The Russian trader has entered into an agreement with producers of organic jaggery - Lakshman Billoor, Muttu Kotimani, Lakshman Malali, Ramanagowda Patil - for buying the produce. Billoor, an organic farmer from Nagarala in Mudhol taluk, said that the Russian businessman is buying the jaggery from them at Rs 50,000 a tonne.

This has proved to be a windfall of sorts for the jaggery producers here, thus providing an impetus for their venture.

Usanin told Deccan Herald that his country was home to a large number of devotees of Lord Krishna and that the jaggery from Bagalkot was being used in the preparation of Krishna prasadam by the centre of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) there. He said that they were earlier sourcing the jaggery from Belagavi and Kolhapur in Maharashtra. But the quality was not up to the mark.

The trader said that he had asked the organic farmers in Mudhol to give priority for hygiene in the manufacture of the jaggery with two per cent lesser moisture, in plastic bags, to be exported to Russia. He expressed his intention to buy 500 tonnes of the produce next year.

Dr Chandrashekhar C P, project officer of the jaggery park, told Deccan Herald that several varieties like ‘joni’ jaggery, powder jaggery, pendi jaggery and value-added jaggery were being produced at the facility and sent to various countries.

He said that the premium quality jaggery manufactured here had high demand in places like Russia and Dubai. Businessmen from Hyderabad and Gujarat were also buying the produce in large quantities, said Chandrashekhar.

The officer said that the jaggery park produces 12 tonnes to 18 tonnes of jaggery every day.

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(Published 04 February 2015, 20:46 IST)

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