Andhra Pradesh

Tribals use less jaggery

Little joys: Two tribal boys enjoy munching sugarcane in a field in Indervelli village of Adilabad district.

ADILABAD: Has anaemia manifested itself among the tribal community of Adilabad district due to steady decline in consumption of sugarcane and jaggery?

Observers like B. Muralidhar, Assistant Agricultural Officer, opine that it is possible because sugarcane and jaggery are the major sources of iron in the diet for tribals.

Munching the cane not only infuses iron into the body system but also takes care of dehydration and strengthens teeth, according to a popular belief. y and large, the tribals munch only red variety of sugarcane that is also considered better for making good quality jaggery.

Customarily, no tribal returns home from a shandy or a ‘jatara’ without purchasing sugarcane. However, the sugarcane purchased now is far less owing to its dwindling availability.

Gonds, Kolams, Naikpods, Pardhans, Thottis and a few other tribes also like to consume tea made with jaggery and an aromatic root called ‘budimera’ added to it.

Besides, tribals make ‘bellam arishelu’, a sweet dish much relished by them. As sugarcane cultivation area has decreased, the use of jaggery has also come down simultaneously.

Sugarcane was cultivated in about 7,000 acres in the black soil of Boath and Utnoor areas until late 1980s.

Now, it is cultivated only in a few scores of acres in Indervelli and Utnoor mandals for sale at shandies and ‘jataras’ and the market in Adilabad and other major towns.

Sugarcane cultivation declined after sugar was decontrolled by the Union government in 1980s. This move made the khandsari units at Ichoda and Pochera in Boath mandal unviable.

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