Making the best of a gourd-send, Thirthahalli gets its own petha

An effort to support the distressed ash gourd growers in Thirthahalli taluk has resulted in the large-scale production of petha, the translucent soft candy famously linked to Agra, for the first time in Malnad.

A few days ago, distress and despair ruled them as over 2,000 tonnes of the vegetable grown by more than 50 farmers remained unsold. Initially, they couldn’t transport the vegetable to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan where it is used to make the delicious petha due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Eventually, there were no takers for the vegetable as production activities were halted in North India.

Young entrepreneur Vishwanath Kuntavally played a key role in the entire process. After learning about the plight of the growers, Thirthahalli MLA Araga Jnanendra and tahsildar Shreepad S B approached Vishwanath who runs Ibbani food industries in Thirthahalli and sought his aid.

Vishwanath had not tried petha making before. But that didn’t deter him from taking up the task and helping farmers. He and his team learnt the process of petha production by watching YouTube videos.

The first batch of petha was distributed to local people recently and many found it delicious. This has encouraged the entrepreneur to take up commercial production and create a Thirthahalli petha brand.

Speaking to DH, Vishwanath said, “It is a lengthy process and around six workers prepared it manually in six days. Using machines, over 10 tonnes petha can be produced per day.”

So far, he has purchased over two tonnes of ash gourd at Rs 5,000 per tonne. Though this is less compared to the normal price, farmers feel this is better than leaving the vegetable to rot in the field.

The tahsildar is confident that farmers will get a better price once the commercial production starts. He said, local production would prove beneficial to both farmers and entrepreneurs. This seems to be a small step ahead in a long journey.