Both have successfully produced mango, chocolate, strawberry, pineapple and cardamom flavoured jaggery in their jaggery making unit near Aurangabad.
Organic and chemical-free jaggery is recommended as a healthy option to sugar since it is a rich source of iron, folic acid, vitamin B and calcium.
Deshmukh, a commerce graduate, and Mane, who has obtained commercial pilot licence from the US, hit upon the idea of flavoured jaggery when they were eating ice cream in Mumbai with a group of friends about six months ago.
"It started as a joke that if ice cream can be made in so many flavours, why can't we make flavoured jaggery?" said Deshmukh, who grows sugarcane in his 16-acre farm on Waluj-Walmi road, about 20 km from Aurangabad.
"Both of us liked the idea, visited many places, sampled jaggery made in different parts of the state and outside, held discussions with experts and finally worked out the formulas. We obtained a loan of around Rs 50 lakh from a bank to start the Rs 90-lakh flavoured jaggery unit at Abhijit's farm on five acres of land, with a crushing capacity of 75 tonnes per day," said Mane.
"Though we started production a fortnight ago, a few works, including construction of a shed, are still in progress," Mane said.
"The flavoured jaggery is being well received by local malls, where one kg blocks are in demand. Markets in Jalna, Jalgaon and Gujarat have also responded and we received a big order for mango flavoured jaggery in two kg and 10 kg blocks from Gujarat. Colour of our jaggery is natural golden-brown while chocolate flavoured jaggery gains the dark-brown colour," he explained.
"Farmers in our periphery agreed to supply us sugarcane in return for price on par with the sugar factories and instant cash that we offered them. We have employed about 200 people in our jaggery unit, including four teams of sugarcane harvesters each having 18 to 20 members. They go to the farmers enlisted with us, harvest the produce which we bring to the jaggery unit in four tractors. The production cost per tonne is between Rs 2,300 and 2,400, while we get between 110 and 120 kg of jaggery per tonne of cane," Deshmukh added.
Demand for flavoured jaggery is more in Gulf countries. "We have already approached people there to export our jaggery and if things go as planned, we have plans to open more such units in the district since our present unit can crush just 25,000 tonnes per year," said Mane.
More than half of 28 co-operative sugar factories in Marahtwada are closed. Six of the seven co-operative factories in Aurangabad with a crushing capacity of about 15 lakh tonnes each are non-functional for about four years. "We have also resolved to start a 500-tonne capacity non-sulphur sugar factory near the town," they said.
Expressing disenchantment about the co-operative sector, Deshmukh and Mane said they did not wish to go the co-operative way, where one person takes initiative, makes a good start and over a period of time, other people take over and spoil everything, they said.
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