Farmer extracts jaggery from watermelon juice

Shivamogga: A farmer in the district found a novel way to stay afloat at a time when the prices of various agriculture produce are falling amid lockdown. Seeing no hope of getting enough returns on the watermelon he raised in his four-acre land, Jayaram Shetty of Nittur village in Hosanagara taluk hit upon a new idea: To produce jiggery from watermelon juice.

Unlike most farmers who resort to destruction of their crop distressed by poor profits, Jayaram succeeded in his out-of-the box efforts. Certainly it is sweet news for all watermelon growers in the State.

Speaking to The Hans India on Tuesday, Jayaram said that he extracted 700 litres juice from one-ton watermelon, which he filtered twice and boiled it for 4-5 hours. After evaporation of water content, he got a thick paste of jaggery. He said with elation that there was no difference in the taste and the color between the jiggery extracted from sugarcane and watermelon. He said 60-65 kg jaggery can be extracted from one-ton watermelon.

Jayarama Shetty who ran a hotel in Mumbai for 30 years had returned to his village during the first wave of Covid and started cultivation in his land. He lamented that farmers would not get reasonable price for their produce even during normal season.