From the archive record
Piles of bagasse lie strewn around, waiting to be sold as fodder or fuel. This is a natural by-product of the sugar extraction process in the traditional fashion, in India. Meanwhile, waster plastic appears to be the major raw material fuel for heating up the raw sugarcane and boiling the sugar out of it. Plastic at one end and bagasse at the other end! The sugar industry in India is a well developed one and one of the biggest after textiles. It provides rural employment opportunities and plays an important role in the Indian economy. Although automated mills are located all over the country, manual jaggery manufacturing is still practiced widely. This method is very simple and no heavy machinery is required. Jaggery is a typical Indian product used commonly in daily food preparations as