Palm gur industry in India

PALMYRA PALM PRODUCT
INDUSTRY IN INDIA
Presented by
MEHAZABEEN.A

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.

NEERA PALM LEAF PALM FIBRE TIMBER
GUR MAKING
NEERA
COLLECTION
TENDER LEAF HEAD
LEAF
SUGAR
MAKING
GUR /
JAGGERY
SUGAR
NEERA
CATERING
GANDY
MAKING
CANDY
PALMTA SOFT
DRINKS
PALM SUGAR
TOFFEE
NAAR
ARTICLES
USED FOR
HANDSTICK &
SHED
CONSTRCTION OF
HOME
PALM LEAF
FANCY &
UTILITY
ARTICLES
USED FIBRE &
BRUSHES &
BROOMS
NAAR
PALM FIBRE &
BRUSHES &
BROOMS
EDIBLE PRODUCTS NON-EDIBLE PRODUCTS
FLOW CHART FOR PALM PRODUCTS

Value added products of palmyra palm
Edible products Non –Edible products
 NEERA
 PALM JAGGERY
 PALM CANDY
 PALM SUGAR
 PALM SYRUP
 PALM CHOCOLATES
 PALM TOFFEES
 FRUIT JAM
 CONFECTIONARY ITEMS
 PALM FIBER BRUSH
 PALM LEAF FANCY
ARTICLES
 NAAR ARTICLES
 PALM LEAF VISITING
CARDS

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 Palm sugar was originally made from the sap of the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 .

PRODUCERS
fairs Collectors Producer
Unions
PDB
PRODUCER
UNIONS
Retailers
MANUFAC
TURES
CONSUMERS
Co - operatives
MARKETING CHANNEL

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
& palm fiber
exported ( 1 lakh)
Country to which
exported
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

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
INDIA EXPORT OF PALMYRA SUGAR
Value in Rs.Lakhs Qty in MT

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 NAME OF THE COURSE
Central palm gur & palm products
institute , M.M.colony , chennai.
Palm products Technology course
Certificate course in palm sugar
making , brush making , palm leaf
articles making
Gajanan naik palm gur technology
development centre
p.o. dahanu ,thane district,
maharashtra.
neera catering / palm leaf articles
Regional palm gur training centre,
1-D, Beach road , cuddalore district
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.

Palm gur industry in India

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