‘Thirthahalli to get its own Agra Petha

Mangaluru/ Shivamogga/ Mysuru: Ash gourd farmers of Thirthahalli, who are in distress with no takers for their produce, have a reason to smile now — a sweet smile at that.
Led by MLA Araga Jnanendra, the district officials have identified an entrepreneur to locally produce petha (sweet delicacy) using the harvest. If things fall in place, the sweet may also be named ‘Thirthahalli petha’.
Thirthahalli taluk in Shivamogga district is known for its ash gourd production. Nearly 1,500 tonnes of the harvest is bought by sweet merchants in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh annually to produce Agra petha. However with lockdown dealing 70 ash gourd growers a severe blow this season, the crop grown on 200 acres could not find buyers in north India. Because of this, the growers have been left with 2,000 tonnes of the harvest.
Siddalingeshwara T, senior assistant director of the horticulture department, told TOI: “Taking into consideration the plight of our farmers, MLA Araga Jnanendra and tahsildar Shripad S B held a brainstorming session with officials from APMC and the horticulture department. To put the harvest to best use, we decided to reach out to entrepreneur Kuntavalli Vishwanath.”
A fortnight ago, the MLA and the tahsildar visited the house of Vishwanath, and the latter obliged to experiment in making the petha. “He has been successful to an extent. The biggest challenge is to utilise the massive harvest in a short time. Marketing and pricing of the final product are other aspects that we need to consider,” Siddalingeshwara said, hoping the experiment proves successful enough to make farmers sustain.
The tahsildar said the petha prepared by Vishwanath tastes good. “We are considering to name it ‘Thirthahalli petha’. The waste generated in its production may be used as bio-fertiliser or animal feed. Even as the experiment is on, we are planning to get licence from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India,” he said.
Vishwanath, 39, a diploma mechanical engineer, said: “We started the trial by watching videos on producing Agra petha, and succeeded in it. We will start its commercial production from next week. We plan to sell petha locally and in Bengaluru, which is home to a large number of people from north India. If we get a good response, we will export it to north Indian market too,” he said, and added: “I’m paying Rs 5,000 per tonne of ash gourd. In 25 days, we can produce about 300 tonnes of petha.”
Vishwanath said he is determined not to use any chemicals in petha production. “Through my venture, I want to help people get chemical-free food products,” he said.