Sindh farmers demand sugarcanesupport price at Rs220/40kg

KARACHI: Sugarcane growers from Sindh have demanded the government to fix the price of the commodity at Rs220/40 kilogram this year, and to start the crushing season from November 1, 2018.

The demand was made in a meeting at the office of Sindh Agriculture Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahoo on Wednesday. Officials of the Sindh Agriculture Department, representatives of Sindh Abadgar Board and Sindh Chamber of Agriculture attended the meeting. Growers advised the provincial minister to fix the sugarcane price at Rs220/maund against last year’s price of Rs182/40kg, as input cost has increased because of the depreciation in the Pakistani rupee.

Last year, growers did not receive the price of Rs182/40kg fixed by the Sindh government, as the Sindh High Court had fixed the interim price at Rs160/40kg. Sources who attended the meeting told The News that the agriculture minister was informed about the billions of rupees sugar millers owed to the growers. On top of that, they were also not paid the amount fixed by the court.

“They were paid around Rs130/40kg despite the orders of the Sindh High Court. A total of 1,025 applications are pending in the Sindh High Court demanding their dues at the rate of Rs160/kg,” sources informed.

Next hearing on this case has been fixed on October 22 and growers were hopeful of receiving their dues following that. Farmers have also demanded to blacklist those sugar mills that have failed to clear their dues.

In this regard, it was learnt that the growers have also moved the Supreme Court of Pakistan to get another Rs22 per 40kg, as the actual price in Sindh was announced at Rs182/40kg, while sugar mills in other provinces already paid Rs180/40kg to the growers.

Besides their demand for the support price, it was also demanded to start the cane crushing season from November 1 this year, as sugarcane was ready for harvesting and farmers wanted to clear their lands to begin the sowing of wheat on time.

Due to water shortage in the province, sugarcane crop seems to be short by more than 30 percent this year, the sources said, adding that the prices could increase beyond the demanded price.

However, another source said that sugar mills were using the usual delaying tactics. They said the millers wanted to postpone the crushing season beyond November 1 and shrink the total crushing period. This, they said would force the growers to sell the commodity in haste and in cheap to make way for wheat.

Growers said that every year they sustained losses because of delay in the crushing season by the sugar mills. They demanded the government to allow them to install machines to produce ‘gur’ instead of selling the commodity to the sugar mill owners.

They also demanded the government to provide them with the machines on subsidy. Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Ismail Rahoo assured the growers that the government would not allow any injustice against the growers, and the rate for sugarcane would be announced amicably with the consent of growers and sugar mills.

The minister has sought suggestions of the mills to fix the sugarcane price. The Sindh government would hold another meeting this month after receiving suggestions from sugar mills to fix the price of sugarcane.

Sindh Department of Agriculture Secretary Agha Zaheer and grower leaders Qabool Muhammad Khatian, Muhammad Nisar Khaskheli, Muhammad Saleh, Muhammad Umer Bughio and others attended the meeting.​