Assessing the viability and sustainability of cane jaggery production in Visakhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh

In order to suggest the viable and sustainable way of occupation to cane Jaggery producers, the present study was taken up to work-out costs and returns in the various forms of Cane Jaggery and constraints related to it. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in selecting the sampling units at various levels during 2017–18. Analytical tools like Cost Concepts, Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Response Priority Index (RPI) were employed to achieve the objectives. The results revealed that cost of sugarcane is the prime factor in the various value added products of Jaggery. Among the various forms of cane jaggery, granular form (BCR=2.67) is more profitable than liquid form (2.25), cubic form (1.59) and lump form (1.17). The major hindrances in jaggery production and marketing were lack of remunerative prices (RPI=0.79), followed by labour shortage, non availability of good crushers, inaccessibility of market yard and non adoption of improved technologies.