Mills not buying two low-sucrose varieties: Punjab and NWFP sugarcane growers facing problems

Failure of Punjab and NWFP governments to discourage sowing of 238 and 1148 sugarcane varieties in the past season has multiplied the difficulties of the growers as the sugar mills are not buying these varieties at "reasonable price".
Sources told Business Recorder that the Food and Agriculture departments of the two provinces could not successfully persuade the farmers to abandon sowing of these varieties, from which the sucrose recovery is around 6 to 7 percent less than other varieties.
According to sources, the sugar industry had already informed the government that these varieties were not good for sugar production, and complained that 238 and 1148 varieties should have been discouraged by the governments in the last sowing season.
They said that the federal government had also taken up this issue with Punjab and NWFP governments when several complaints were registered by farmers in Faisalabad and adjacent areas in Punjab and D I Khan in the Frontier.
As the country is expected to get a bumper sugarcane crop of over 62 million tons this year, the sugarcane growers are expected to face some serious troubles as the mills are purchasing sugarcane on their own terms. The sugar industry will not be able to make even partial payments to the growers as the sugar prices are coming down.
Sources said that declining sugar prices would deprive the growers of reasonable price for sugarcane as the industry has informed the government that ex-mill price of sugar had declined to around Rs 23 per kg, which is much lower than the cost of sugar production. The ex-mill price of sugar must have been around Rs 29.50 per kg and only then the mills could have ensured reasonable prices of sugarcane in the current season.
The sugarcane growers would be in great trouble as the policy-makers ignored the prospects of achieving the bumper sugarcane crop this season and imported a large quantity of sugar. The situation would aggravate if the mills failed to provide prices close to the indicative prices.
The indicative price of sugarcane in Sindh is Rs 65 per 40-kg, in Punjab Rs 60, while in NWFP Rs 65. Sources said this situation could create another crisis for the PML, being the former ruling party, as it is already having bad reputation over the shortage and higher wheat flour prices in the country.
Sources said that the farmers were not provided alternative seeds of other varieties in the sowing season and that was why the varieties of 238 and 1148 were sown in large areas of Punjab and the NWFP. They said that area sown with these varieties has dropped from 45 percent in 2006-07 to 20 percent of the sugarcane area in Punjab this year. However, there is almost no change in the area sown with these varieties in the NWFP, they added.