Chemical-free jaggery and jaggery powder unit

This unit crushes sugarcane bought from nearby farmers and boils the juice in open pans to make jaggery blocks, cubes and powder, without chemical whiteners.

Pune district's irrigated talukas form a large sugarcane belt that feeds many cooperative sugar mills. Most growers sell raw cane at the farm gate, and the extra earning from processing it is made further down the chain. A jaggery unit keeps part of that earning close to the farm. NABARD's 2023-24 credit plan for Pune puts food and agro processing credit potential at Rs 901.08 crore.

You need an FSSAI food licence, consent from the state pollution control board for the furnace, a cane crusher, boiling pans, a drying and powdering line and a clean packing room. The hard part is cane supply: you compete with the sugar mills, so you must pay farmers fairly and on time. Crushing is seasonal, so store enough jaggery in cool, dry rooms to sell all year. Getting the same colour, hardness and taste in every batch takes practice.

Sell to Pune grocery shops, sweet shops, organic stores and online buyers. Later, the agri export help centre that NABARD's plan says has been set up in Pune can help you find export buyers.