Nepal's beloved Chaku tradition struggles to keep up as generational shifts emerge

Jan 09, 2025

Kathmandu (Nepal), Jan 09 (ANI): Nepal's traditional Chaku business, known for its sweet delicacy made from jaggery molasses, is now facing the bitter challenge of a labor shortage, which could, in the coming years, create a significant gap between supply and demand. 19 years old, Rohit Shrestha is the fourth generation within his lineage to continue the business of Chaku (molasses) in the ancient town of Tokha in the outskirts of Kathmandu but things are going to change from his generation onwards. The rising trend of flying abroad in search of better opportunities and education has been rising in the Himalayan Nation with a population of less than 30 million. The majority of those flying abroad are youths and earning age groups queuing up at the airport ready to take off leaving the elderly behind. The aroma of boiling stacks of sugar lumps filling the air around the Tokha is fading out in Tokha which is popular for first-class molasses which has high demand in the market. However, the making of molasses is seasonal and the industry only works full-fledged for just two months in a year with production made sparsely based on the demands. Tokha, an ancient settlement inside Kathmandu Valley, is believed to have been in existence from the Malla Period, long before the unification of Nepal by Prithivi Narayan Shah and currently has around 15 molasses-making home-based industries.