Millers demand sugar export: Food security minister rules out permission without evidence of surplus stock

ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema categorically stated that the government could not grant the permission to export sugar without a credible and verifiable evidence of surplus stock.

Citing previous precedents, during the National Assembly’s special committee on agricultural products’ meeting, he stated the sugar export permission was granted earlier, however, owing to subsequent shortage in the country, expensive sugar imports were undertaken.

Tariq Bashir Cheema maintained that a meeting to discuss starting of the crushing season with the sugar millers would be held on Thursday. One of the members maintained cartelization and monopolization within the sugar industry and their ability to influence state policies for their personal gains is an unaddressed question.

She urged the ministry to devise mechanisms to encourage other forms of ownership in the sugar industry. The committee deliberated on the delay in fixing the support prices for wheat and sugarcane and sugarcane crushing season respectively.

The members regretted the deadlock on granting permission to export surplus sugar and subsequent delay in initiating sugarcane crushing is causing considerable losses to the poor farmers. They urged the government to negotiate with the sugar mills owners, verify the available stock and take the best decision in interest of the country.

The members stated that early announcement of the support prices, before sowing, signals better profitability and incentives to cultivate crops. It was highlighted the federal government has so far not reached a conclusive decision with regard to support price for wheat.

Tariq Bashir Cheema stated that the provinces’ divergent decisions caused the delay in setting the support prices. He assured that the matter would be resolved in the next meeting of the cabinet.

He also added the package for the agriculture sector is also pending the meeting of the cabinet. Earlier, the National Assembly’s special committee on agricultural products unanimously elected the Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf as its chairman.

Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf thanked the members for reposing confidence in him and stated that given the recent evolving dynamics within the country, the agenda of food security and agricultural development had assumed central importance.

He hoped that the committee would strive to make better decisions to accelerate Pakistan’s agro-economic growth. The members regretted that despite being an agrarian economy, Pakistan relied on imported agricultural products to meet its domestic demand.

The members underlined the need to address long-standing problem of farmers’ access to cheap credit, improved research to enhance productivity and improved mechanisms for profitability of the farmers.