3 Ropar bizmen promoting organic jaggery

Ropar, February 19

Three Ropar-based entrepreneurs, including an NRI, have come forward to initiate a jaggery-producing start-up to popularise its use among youth. One of the partners, Ranvir Singh Shergill, a postgraduate in biotechnology from UK, said they had decided to provide people with a healthy alternative to sugar, following international standards of food safety.

An organic jaggery manufacturing plant worth Rs 1 crore has already been set up around 3 km away from Ropar on Anandpur Sahib Road and is selling nearly five-quintal jaggery per day.

Shergill, already employed as a project manager of a multinational company having its plant of ready-to-eat meal products in Haryana, said he along with his cousins Jatinder Singh (MSc in Agriculture Science) now based in Sydney, and Sukhwinder Singh, a farmer in nearby Shekhpur village, had mooted an idea to produce healthy food for masses.

“We did a research and worked on it for two years. We also visited different farms across the country and decided to do organic farming and produce jaggery,” he said. “Now, jaggery is considered as a healthy alternative of sugar by people and sugarcane farming also requires lesser water than paddy,” said Sukhwinder. “We will soon be introducing chocolate flavoured jaggery for younger generation,” said Shergill.