PROCESSING OF SWEET

TODDY INDUSTRY IN
INDIA Presented by
INTRODUCTION
Palmyra tree is a monocot plant belonging to the
family palmaceae, its scientific name is
Borassus flabellifer .
 It is a multi-purpose tree with a great utility.
 It is found abudantly in the state of Tamilnadu
and its distribution extents in the states of
Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh etc.,
 It is referred as a tree of life with nearly 8OO
uses including food , bevarages , fiber ,
medicinal & timber.
OBJECTIVES…
The main objectives of the study is :
⚫To explore the possibility of creation of economic
value added products from the palmyra palm .
⚫To make the palm products competitive
and attractive to increase the business.
 FLOW CHART FOR PALM PRODUCTS
EDIBLE PRODUCTS NON-EDIBLE PRODUCTS

NEERA PALM LEAF PALM FIBRE TIMBER

NEERA
GUR MAKING COLLECTION

TENDER LEAF HEAD

LEAF

SUGAR
MAKIN
G
PALM FIBRE &
NEERA NAAR
BRUSHES &
CATERING
BROOMS
GUR /
JAGGERY

SUGAR
PALM LEAF USED FIBRE &
GANDY FANCY & BRUSHES &
MAKIN UTILITY BROOMS
G ARTICLES

CANDY

USED FOR
HANDSTICK &
SHED
CONSTRCTION OF
PALM SUGAR PALMTA SOFT NAAR HOME
TOFFEE DRINKS ARTICLES
PALMYRA PALM PRODUDTS
Contd….
 Value added products of palmyra palm
Edible products Non –Edible products
⚫ NEERA ⚫ PALM FIBER BRUSH
⚫ PALM JAGGERY ⚫ PALM LEAF FANCY
⚫ PALM CANDY ARTICLES
⚫ PALM SUGAR ⚫ NAAR ARTICLES
⚫ PALM SYRUP ⚫ PALM LEAF VISITING
⚫ PALM CHOCOLATES
CARDS
⚫ PALM TOFFEES
⚫ FRUIT JAM
⚫ CONFECTIONARY ITEMS
 NEERA
 Neera the delicious drink
extracted from the sap of the
palm.
 The drink has agreeble flavour, high
nutritive value and medicinal
properties.
 It is cool and good for improvement
of general health , espicially as a
supplement to those who have an
iron and vitamin deficit.
 PALM JAGGERY
⚫ Palm jaggery is quite popular in the
southern states of Tamil nadu , Karnataka
& Andhra pradesh.
⚫ It is called karupatti vellam or “
pana vellam”
⚫ It has an intense taste .
⚫ The price of palm jaggery is double that
of sugar.
⚫ Palm gur industry mainly belongs to
traditional artisians who know the art of
climbing trees. This is a seasonal industry.
⚫ Palm jaggery is rich in calcium , iron and other
useful vitamins and minerals.
⚫ The medicinal properties in it makes it a
unique product that can be used by people of
all ages.
⚫ It is used as a substitute of sugar in the preparation
of coffee , tea etc..,
 PALM SUGAR
⚫ Palm sugar was originally made from the sap of
the palmyra palm.
⚫ Palm sugar is often labelled under various other
names reflecting the several different species of palm
utilised and its wide production area across Africa
and Asia.
⚫ Palm sugar is produced by tapping the sap from the
inflorscence of the tree and boiling it down to
produce a syrup, which is then sold as is, or allowed
to crystallize into various shapes and sizes.
The uses of the different parts of the Palmyra
Palm
⚫ Naar - Basket making
⚫ Timber - House Construction, walking stick.
⚫ Spathe cover - Broom making
⚫ Petiole of young tree - Fencing of Garden
⚫ Frond - Fibre Extraction
⚫ Karukku - Rope for bundling
⚫ Agani - Cot weaving, Basket Making
⚫ Tender leaf - Fancy leaf articles
⚫ Matured leaf - Roofing, Packing
⚫ Eark/Fibre - Brush Making, Basket Making, window
Making
POTENTIAL AREA
Name of the Products Pontential area
Neera Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, West Bengal
Orissa, Rajesthan

Palm sugar Tamil Nadu, Andhra

Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka
Palm jaggery Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, West Bengal,
Orissa

Palmyra naar Tamil Nadu

Andhra
Pradesh,
Palm Fibre Tamil nadu , Orissa,
Andhra pradesh
Palm Leaf articles Tamil nadu , Kerela
Andhra pradesh
 HISTORY OF PALM GUR INDUSTRY
Palm trees usually thrive in tropical and sub-
tropical regions.
During the British rule , the development of the Indin
cane sugar industry under the policy of imperial
preference and later tariff protection and the
government encouragement to sugar cane plantations
adversly affected palmgur and palmsugar
manufacture.
⚫ The All India Village Industries Association,
which was established in 1935, made some efforts
to revive and propagate the use of palm gur.
⚫ In 1937, when popular local ministries came to
power in different provinces, prohibition was tried to
introduce
⚫ Consequently, palm gur making was encouraged,
particularly in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu provinces.
⚫ As an alternate source of employment to the
displaced tappers who, earlier, used to make a country
liquor (toddy) by fermenting neera (sweet sap from
palms).
⚫ And about 1,600 Palm Gur Cooperative Societies
were registered in Tamil Nadu alone.
⚫ After independence, a separate section was established in
the Union Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 1947 to
look after the development programme of palm gur
industry.
⚫ Apart from the States namely Tamil Nadu, West Bengal
and Andhra Pradesh, where palm gur making had
developed as traditional industry, on account of consumer
demand for it, efforts were made to develop the industry
in other States also where such tradition did not exist.
⚫ When prohibition was introduced in 1951 as a national
policy, the organisation and development of palm gur,
palm sugar and other products of palm stalk, palm fibre
and palm leaf as an alternative means of livelihood to
the displaced toddy tappers became imperative.
PALM GUR INDUSTRY UNDER KVIC
⚫ The Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(KVIC) took over the work of this Industry in
1957 from the All India Khadi and Village
Industries Board.
⚫Technical guidance was provided to institutions
and cooperatives in the Palm Gur Industry for
its orientation on scientific and viable lines.
Characteristics of the industry
The characteristics of the Palm Gur Industry are
enumerated as under :
⚫This is a traditional industry.
⚫The tapper community had taken-up various
activities of Palm Gur Industry as their main
occupation for livelihood in the country.
⚫ Generally, no other community will accept
tapping of Palms as an additional source of income
due to its hazardous nature of work.
⚫ This is a seasonal industry. It provides employment to
the artisans for 150 days in a year.
⚫ In addition, the industry keeps all the family
members, including women and children, engaged for
the whole season.
⚫ The manufacturing of palm products can be started
with meagre financial investment.
 TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
⚫ The palm gur industry mainly belongs to traditional
artisans who know the art of climbing trees and have
made this hazardous work as their main occupation for
livehood.
⚫ Mostly they are poor and belongs to the weaker sections
of the society , i.e, scheduled castes and tribes
⚫ Millions of artisans are engaged in the manufacturing
activities of palm gur industry in the southern parts of
the cuntry.
⚫ The data on total work force engaged in palm gur industry
is not available due to widely dispersed nature of
activities.
⚫ The manufacturing activities are carried out in small
hamlets of inaccessible villages by the family
members of artisans.
⚫ The kerela government has created palm
products corporation to look after the tapper’s
family by
providing financial assistance and marketing
facilities
in kerela.
⚫ Different state governments also started financing
through co-operatives and other similar bodies
like District federations & state federations for the
development of industry and upliftment of tapper
artisans.
Marketing channels of palm jaggery in
Tamil nadu
producers , contractors , local traders ,
commission agents , wholesalers , and retailers
are the various functionaries involved in the
marketing of jaggery . These agencies perform
different activities in marketing of palm jaggery
through which it reach the ultimate consumer .
These functionaries face different problem
which affect the marketing system of palm jaggery
and put the producers and the consumer at a
great loss .
 MARKETING CHANNEL

PRODUCERS

fairs Collectors Producer PDB

Unions

PRODUCER MANUFAC
UNIONS TURES

Retailers Co - operatives

CONSUMERS
Export
Among those who operate in the Palmgur Industry only
the Tamilnadu State Palmgur and fibre marketing Co.-Op
Federation Ltd., Chennai is directly involved in the Export
of non-edible palm products. The Andhra Pradesh State
Palmgur Federation is indirectl.y involved in th Year.
year Palm leaf articles Country to which
& palm fiber exported
exported ( 1 lakh)

1999 – 2000 85.10 Belgium , U.k. ,

Japan , France , Italy
,Ireland ,

2000 - 2001 12.42 Germany , Australia

and Phillippines
2001 – 2002 13.66 Belgium,Australia
2002 - 2003 25.72 Phillipines, Italy
 INDIA EXPORT OF PALMYRA SUGAR
Value in Rs.Lakhs Qty in MT
2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

Country Qty Rs. Lacs Qty Rs. Lacs Qty Rs. Lacs

United Kingdom 57.05 21.28 51.73 55.82 79.62 128.26

United Arab Emirates 31.71 17.48 70.51 22.76 172.61 66.72

United States 3.39 1.97 136.30 58.83 77.88 36.36

Sri Lanka 46.32 9.65 28.65 14.50 37.55 25.71

Bangladesh 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22.90 10.75

South Africa 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9.51 6.65

Australia 2.50 1.22 2.69 1.81 6.30 4.86

Nepal 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.20 0.07

Japan 0.05 0.02 0.50 0.27 0.00 0.00

Saudi Arabia 42.00 5.88 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Switzerland 1.02 0.66 3.40 1.50 0.00 0.00

Constraints of the palm gur industry
⚫ Tree climbing process for tapping palm trees
still remains the most difficult and arduous
task.
⚫ Younger generation from rural areas does not find
tapping occupation acceptable, as it is not
adequately remunerative.
⚫ Neera ferments and gur melts, thus both of them
are having storage problems. This makes marketing
efforts very risky.
A TAPPER
CLIMBING
PALMYRAH
PALM
⚫ The durability of palm leaf fancy articles is also short.
⚫ Cost of fuel for boiling neera makes gur production
uneconomical.
⚫ Scientific methods to distinguish palm sugar from
cane sugar used in areated beverages are not available
to press for excise exemption on soft drinks.
⚫ Thus, in the absence of this special privilege palm
sugar production is discouraged.
⚫ There is a cut-throat competition faced from the
toddy tappers by those who tap palms for production
of neera and gur.
⚫ The toddy contractors can afford to pay higher wages
whereas neera sales and jaggery/gur production do not
ensure wages to that level
Remedial measures taken…
⚫ The last four decades were significant for
the development of Palm Gur Industry.
⚫ Initially the emphasis was on developmental and
promotional activities which aimed at covering
more and more artisans and upgrading their skill
and efficiency.
⚫ For enhancing efficiency and reducing risk to artisans
in climbing trees, methods like aerial rope ways and
bamboo ways have been introduced in the field and
as a result 40% efficiency of the artisans has
increased.
⚫ Efforts were made to diversify non-edible
palm products of the industry.
⚫ Visiting cards made from palm leaf are becoming
popular among the people. It has very good
markets due to its uniqueness.
⚫ Fibre extraction and processing were traditionally
done manually by beating leaf stalk or frond of
palmyrah palm with heavy wooden hammer.
Quality control
The Directorate of Palm Gur Industry, by
collecting the samples of palm sugar, palm gur, palm
candy and palm fibre brushes from its implementing
agencies like individual by checking with the given
specifications from FPO & BIS, has adopted the quality
control measures for standardisation of some of the
products.
Training programme
NAME OF THE CENTRE
Central palm gur & palm products
institute , M.M.colony , chennai.
Gajanan naik palm gur
technology development centre
p.o. dahanu ,thane district,
maharashtra.
Regional palm gur training centre,
1-D, Beach road , cuddalore district
NAME OF THE COURSE
Palm products Technology course
Certificate course in palm sugar
making , brush making , palm leaf
articles making
neera catering / palm leaf articles
confectionary & indigenous sweet
making /palm leaf ,tappers
proficiency course.
Suggestions for effective marketing of
the palm products
⚫ Excise and similar other regulations restricting the
sale and transport of neera and other palm products
should be removed.
⚫ All zonal railways may be requested to provide place
for sale of neera and other palm products on the
platform of major railway stations to the artisians
cooperative societies, federations at nominal rent.
⚫ All the state government may be requested to
exempt neera and other palm products from
payment of advertisement tax.
Some policy support measures expected from
the government are:
⚫ Taxes on palm products may be removed.
⚫ Excise duty on palm sugar based products may be
with drawn
⚫ There should be a liberal approach in the respect of
issuance of tapping licence , fixation of rent of
palm trees , local taxes and other levels.
⚫ Palm trees on the land of
local/centrl/undertaking governments should be
exclusively reserved for tapping “Neera”.
Conclusion
⚫ Keeping in view the nature and historical
background of the Palm Gur Industry where poor
tapper artisans and women from weaker sections
below poverty line are mostly engaged, this Industry
needs to be treated at par with Khadi Programmes for
which necessary policy support may be given for its
survival/development.
⚫ On the line of the State Government of Tamil Nadu
where the palm is treated as a ‘State Tree’, policy
support also needs to be given in other concerned
States where plenty of palms are available.
⚫ Wealth from Waste and offering employment to a
large number of persons mostly dispersed in rural
tracts all over country, this traditional knowledge
based industry deserves to be propagated, promoted
and encouraged.