Sago

The sago palm is a crop par excellence for sustainable agriculture. The word ‘sago’ is originally Javanese, meaning starch-containing palm pith. It is considered as the ‘starch crop of the 21st century’ by many scientists. Sago palms are economically acceptable, environment friendly, and promote a socially stable agroforestry system. It is a staple food in Southeast Asia, along with many other parts of the world. It’s often mixed with hot water to form a glue-like mass, which is commonly eaten as a source of carbs with fish or vegetables. It’s also common to bake sago into bread, biscuits, and crackers. Commercially, sago is used as a thickener due to its viscous properties.

Tapioca was introduced in India during the late 18th Century and today, in India tapioca is grown over an area of about 3 lakhs hectares, with a production of 58 to 60 lakhs tonnes of tubers. Though Kerala ranks first in cultivation and production in the country, Tamilnadu ranks first in respect of the processing of tapioca into starch and sago and hence this crop has now acquired a status of one of the important commercial crops in the State of TamilNadu. In Tamilnadu, tapioca crop is being cultivated over an area of about 82000 hectares providing employment for thousands of workers over fields and in 800 processing units. In Salem District alone, 34000 hectares of land is under tapioca cultivation and there are 650 units now called a Sago Cluster, engaged in tapioca processing.