LAHORE: The Punjab government has fixed minimum purchase price of sugarcane at Rs 200 per maund (40kg) for the crushing season 2020-21, while it has also been decided to increase the area under sugarcane cultivation by 20.8 percent.
According to sources, principally all the stakeholders had agreed to the new price which is an increment of Rs 10 per maund for the next crushing season. The official notification of the new sugarcane minimum purchase price (support price) is likely to be notified on Thursday (today) as the summary is sent to the relevant quarters. Last year the minimum sugarcane price was Rs 180 per maund. However, this price was not enforced due to shortage of the crop and the millers claimed paying Rs 250 per maund to the farmers.
Furthermore, according to the Punjab Agriculture Department, the area under cultivation has been substantially increased by 20.8 percent 2020-21 as compared to the last year. This year the crop was cultivated on 1.92 million acre as compared 1.59 million acre land in the last year. The highest increase of land under sugarcane cultivation was in D G Khan division where 34.4 percent increase was recorded, followed by Multan division of 33.3 percent. Furthermore, in D G Khan Division, the highest increase was recorded in Rajanpur district where the area under sugarcane cultivation increased to 110,000 acres from last year of 62,000 acres, followed by Muzafargrah district with 125,000 acres from 98,000 acres in the last year. In case of Layyah district the area under cultivation is 44,000 acres. But despite this, in D G Khan the area cultivating sugarcane reduced by 3000 acres and fell to 22,000 acres from 25,000 acres of the previous year.
In Multan Division, the highest increase was recorded in Vehari district where the area under cultivation is recorded at 42,000 acres from the previous year of 24,000 acres, followed by 12,000 acres in Lodhran district that increased from 8,000 acres in the last year. Similarly, Khanewal increased to 16,000 acres under sugarcane cultivation from 14,000 acres of the last year.
