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Preoccupied by high inflation, increasing poverty and low income, the sugarcane growers still await payment from the millers, while the government seems helpless in resolving the issue.
"The small growers whose crop cycle depends on liquidity from the previous harvest have no other option but to sell their produce to the middleman on his terms and conditions and the relatively big growers having 200-300 acres land sell their crop directly to the millers", sources said.
They said that small farmers sell their crop to the middleman who pays them just Rs 35-40 per 40 kg, that is hardly equal to their cost of production. "It means the growers do not get any profit at all," they added.
Crushing season 2007-08 started on November 15, 2007 and up to December 31, 2007, total cane crushed was 340,629 tons, with average sucrose recovery of 9.2 percent, and sugar production of 30,135 tons, as compared to crushing of 200,695 tons with average sucrose recovery of 7.88 percent and sugar production of 15,015 tons during the corresponding period of last year.
The Government of Sindh through a notification on October 20, 2007, had fixed minimum sugarcane support price at Rs 67 per 40 kg for the crushing season 2007-08, but the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), due to the continuous fall in sugar prices, wanted the support price to be at Rs 63 per 40 kg.
But after the arrival of the crop, the millers decided to pay Rs 57 per 40 kg pretending that the sugar content was less than they had expected. "This claim is purely fictitious as the crushing season started in November and the sugar content in November and December is the highest ie, 11-13 percent or more as compared to October and January", sources said.
The middleman sells this product to the sugar mills at Rs 57 per 40 kg. This indicates that he makes the profit of at least Rs 17 per 40 kg. They regret that those growers who sold the crop to the millers were still waiting for their money.
"The mills finished the crushing but no payment sheet has still been delivered to the farmers. They had promised, as ever before, to deposit the amount in our accounts but nothing has been done so far", Naseer Hussain, a sugarcane grower told this scribe.
This situation has made the growers disappointed. "Have I received any benefit from sugarcane crop? Still I am waiting for my money and the low prices of cane in the domestic market have made me think of growing cotton next year", he said with tears in his eyes. "The government is observing the whole situation like a silent spectator. We are helpless and the sugar millers have once again played a foul game", he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

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