This brown gold of Khandwa is famous in the whole country today, started learning his work from the elderly!

Bharat Rao, a farmer of Siloda, a small village in Khandwa district, is famous all over the country for his organic jaggery. This success was not suddenly achieved, but traditional art, hard work and quality production has brought him this identity. The grandfather of Bharatrao used to make jaggery in a traditional way, in which no chemicals or artificial colors were used. This work stopped over time, but Bharatrao’s mind always had a desire to resume it.

Organic jaggery journey
About four years ago, Bharatrao decided to revive the tradition of making jaggery again in his village, but this time in a fully biological way. He stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides in sugarcane cultivation and started using cow dung, organic pesticides and desi seeds. They believe that organic farming improves the health of the land and also enhances the taste and nutrition of the product.

Traditional method

Bharatrao and his brother Devi Lal Rao use traditional crusher and iron kadah. The sugarcane is cut from the field and sent to crushing in the crusher, which keeps the juice fresh and sweet. Then this juice is cooked on low flame in a big bit of bitter. No chemical or detergent is used in this process. To extract foam, using peanuts or castor oil, which is completely natural and safe for health.

Market
In the initial days, Bharatrao had to work hard to make a market. First he started selling his jaggery in nearby villages and local Haat-Bazaar. People liked the taste and aroma of organic jaggery so much that the demand started growing rapidly and their jaggery started reaching big cities like Khandwa district, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Pune and Delhi. Today their annual production capacity has reached several tonnes and their jaggery is sent across the country. They sell it in attractive and environment-friendly packing, on which the name of the brand of ‘Siloda’ brand is written.

Beneficial for health

According to Bharatrao, organic jaggery is beneficial for health, is easy to digest and has abundant iron, minerals and other nutrients. Therefore, people are specially fond of it in villages as well as cities, especially those who are aware of health.

future plans
In future, Bharatrao wants to further expand this business. They want other farmers of the village to join organic farming and jaggery production, so that the traditional indigenous taste can be spread across the country and the income of farmers will also increase. They believe that if we adopt our desi methods and prepare quality products, then no one can back down in the market.