Farmers say millers not paying notified prices for sugarcane

PESHAWAR: The farmers and sugarcane growers have protested the failure of the sugar mills to pay them price for the produce as notified by the government and decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

They accused the sugar mills of failing to honour their pledge to pay for sugarcane on the government’s notified rate of Rs180 per 40 kilograms.

Hundreds of farmers and sugarcane growers, mainly from the Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar districts camped outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the other day, claiming their payments were not according to the rate notified by the government which later endorsed by the Supreme Court.

The protesting sugarcane growers, led Abdur Rehman Khan of Kafoordheri, said they gathered on the occasion of the chief justice Peshawar visit to inform him (CJ) of the “injustices” meted out to them, but they were not let meet him.

The farmers left the square in front of the provincial assembly after the assurance by Nazim Town-II, Faridullah Khan, and other political figures to raise the matter with the provincial government and owners of the mills.

Arbab Jameel, leader of the Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran, said the mills owners had started the worst type of discrimination of the farmers in the province.

He said that the provincial government had directed the millers to pay Rs180 per 40 kg as minimum support price of sugarcane for the crushing season, but the millers are paying them Rs140 per 40 kg.

They (mills) first take signature from every farmer prior to paying for his sugarcane he delivers declaring that he has no objection to the rate paid by the millers, he added.

Vice-president of the KPCA Muhammad Zahir Khan, told The News that the Rs180 per 40 kg was the price agreed upon during the meeting of the Sugarcane Board in 2015, but the mills were still paying the same while the cost of production had increased manifold since then.

He said they had demanded the government to fix minimum support price of sugarcane at Rs230 per 40kg to save the growers of losses, but their request was turned down on the plea that the prices of local sugar at the international market were not competitive.

Abdur Rehman Khan, former member of the provincial assembly (MPA) and leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), lamented the attitude of the millers.

He said they (mills) in first place delayed the crushing of sugarcane till January instead of October causing huge losses to growers. They (farmers) could not sow the early variety of wheat as their land remained under the sugarcane crop during the wheat sowing season, he maintained. The Sindh government fixed the rate of sugarcane at Rs182 per 40 kg and Punjab had also fixed it at Rs 180 per 40 kg for 2017-18 crushing season, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government directed the millers to pay Rs180 per 40 kg as minimum support price of sugarcane at the factory gate, Abdur Rehman Khan said.

“However, the mills are paying us only Rs140 per 40 kg,” he said and added that in the time of sugarcane growing the sugar mills had pledged to pay farmers weeks after harvesting of the crop. However, it remains a public relation stunt to woe them back to sugarcane farming, the farmer said. But they are not paying us on time, he further said.

Israrullah Advocate, leader of the Kissan Board, said they were trying to talk to the authorities and mills management who every time promised to pay the notified prices, but nothing happened then.