Sugarcane growers across the country will take to the streets against politically influential sugarcane mills owners for refusing to purchase cane at the official rate announced by the provincial governments. An official source at Ministry of National Food Security and Research told this correspondent that Sindh had notified cane support price at Rs 182 per 40 kg and Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Rs 180 per 40 kg in consultation with federal government and Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).
According to the official, sugar mill owners refused to purchase sugarcane from growers at the official rate which accounts for huge losses to sugarcane growers compelling them to sell their commodity at a lower price in violation of the Sugar Factories Control Act 1950. In addition, failure to buy cane is delaying wheat sowing in the country. President Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) Khalid Mehmood Khokhar while talking to Business Recorder held the federal and provincial governments responsible for allowing sugar mill owners to exploit growers.
"Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif in different meetings with PKI announced that mills would purchase sugarcane from growers at the official rate but so far not even his own mills are ready to buy the crop at the official rate," he added. He also stated that farmers would not have faced such a situation if the federal government had announced the export of surplus sugar in a timely manner.
"We had requested the federal government as well as staged protests to allow export of surplus in May 2017 when the price of sugar in the international market was $550 per ton but they did not pay any heed to our demands," he protested. The government on November 28 allowed the export of 1.5 million tons of sugar at Rs 10.70 per kilogram subsidy when the sugar price declined to $380 per ton in the international market, he said, adding that now government would have to pay Rs 50 billion subsidy for export of sugar.
He said that PKI along with other farmers associations will stage a protest in front of Punjab Assembly on January 11 against purchase of cane at lower than the official price. Nawab Zubair Talpur, president Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI), said that farmers staged protests against purchase of cane at lower price in Sindh and moved the court against the issue. The Sindh High Court directed the mill owners to purchase cane from growers at Rs 172 per 40 kg from growers and deposit Rs 10 in the court.
He said that the sugar mills after the court orders started purchase of cane at Rs 172 per 40 kg but began to deduct around 20 to 25 percent of the purchase price at one pretext or another with heavy financial implications on growers. He added that the court will be informed of these deductions in the next hearing January 8 (today) and if the mills owners did not stop these illegal deductions, the farmers will again stage a protest demonstration.
Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikander Hayat Bosan while addressing a press conference on January 4 said that the federal government has nothing to do with sugarcane prices and issues relating to the crop are dealt with under the provincial sugar factories control act 1950 therefore provinces are bound to ensure sale of sugarcane at the official rate.
"Sugarcane is a provincial matter and the provincial governments fix its indicative price," the Minister said, adding that the total demand of sugar in the country is 5.3 million tons while this year the country is likely to produce 7.5 million tons.
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