Big demand for manually crushed sugarcane juice

Over 100 farmers from Ahmednagar district are selling sugarcane juice on their manual carts

Veda Ramaswamy, Vashi

May 13, 2011 - DNA Navi Mumbai

Photographer - Umesh Pawar, DNA

Just have a stroll alongside any of the busy lanes in Navi Mumbai and you wouldn’t fail but to notice the number of sugarcane juice carts that have come up at every nook and corner. What makes them extraordinary is the fact that they are not mechanized, but manually driven. At a time when people are finding excuses to beat the heat and stay indoors, these sugarcane juice vendors are sweating it out under the scorching sun to quench our thirst.

These vendors are a group of around 100 farmers who have travelled all the way from Ahmedanagar district in Maharashtra to Navi Mumbai. They come here every summer during the months of April and May since this period does not prove to be conducive for farming. While the sugarcane juice might just be a drink that quenches our thirst, for these farmers, it’s their alternate source of employment.

There are around 80 manually driven sugarcane juice carts in Navi Mumbai, of which 40 can be found on the streets of Vashi, Nerul and Belapur alone. Some farmers own these carts while some have taken it on rent. The supreme advantage of these manually driven sugarcane juice carts over the mechanized ones is that they extract juice naturally. Also, they are made up of wood rather than iron. “The machines used to extract sugarcane juice are oiled on a regular basis. This can prove to be harmful for the people as the juice can get contaminated with oil. The manually extracted juice is natural and fresh,” said Navnath Ghodke, one of such manually driven sugarcane juice cart vendors from Ahmednagar.

These sugarcane juice carts contain a ‘charkha’. The vendors have to pull this ‘charkha’ and take at least five rounds around the cart to extract the juice from a single sugarcane which provides three glasses of juice. They charge Rs 7 per glass and earn around Rs 300 to Rs 400 per day. But the vendors fail to earn much profit since most of their earnings are exhausted in buying the sugarcanes and paying for the rent of the cart. “I pay rent of around Rs 3000 per month for the cart while the sugarcane alone cost Rs 3500 per tonne,” said Ganesh Pujari, another vendor.

During their two month stay in Navi Mumbai, these vendors reside in Juinagar, Nerul and Belapur. Their work begins at 9 in the morning and continues till 8 in the evening. They get so much overworked during the day that they fail to find time to even have their meals in between. “I get customers all throughout the day. It’s our duty to serve them first. I have my food early in the morning and then directly at night after I get back home,” said Lata Baba, a woman who undertook this business to support her son and herself since her husband’s death.

Not only is the manually extracted sugarcane juice more natural, but it also tastes better. Navi Mumbaikars are favouring it to the mechanized ones. “I prefer the naturally extracted sugarcane juice as it tastes fresher. Also, their job is commendable as these vendors work hard in the heat to keep the pedestrians and travellers cool,” said Manjula Jadhav, a Nerul resident.