LAHORE: Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) has urged the departments to expedite their progress in the preview of sugar commission report, as first time government made public such type of report to address the irregularities at large scale.
PBF Vice President, Ahmad Jawad said sugar cane farmers are also eager of their stuck payments before sugar mills which are in billions in the light of sugar commission report.
Jawad said the provincial governments to remove the sugar mills illegally installed in cotton areas and restore the cotton belt as per crop zones. They also called for removing the illegal enhanced capacity of sugar mills and return them to original and approved capacity.
He pointed out that amount paid less to sugarcane growers in 2017-18 as well in 2019 and proved by the commission report may be recovered from the identified mills and returned to sugarcane growers, immediately. The sugarcane prices paid to farmers in 2017-18 are far less than the documents of the mills showing, as that was paid to middle man, not to farmer. A farmer was getting Rs. 120 to 130 per 40kg of sugarcane, with a 5 - 10% reduction in weight in the name of unclean cane and trash, so the actual price a farmer had received in 2017-18 would be Rs. 90-100 per 40 kg. In 2017-18 sugar mills paid Rs. 130 billion less than indicative price to sugarcane growers.
In the Prime Minister Agriculture Emergency program, sugarcane was included despite the fact this crop had no productivity issue; rather we were producing surplus sugar and exporting with a subsidy from the taxpayers’ money. Whereas cotton, which the country has, stake and contribute 60% of foreign exchange was not included, because the architecture of the program has stakes in sugar. Similarly Sugarcane has taken away the area under cotton because sugar is protected by 40% import duty and sugarcane has an indicative price, whereas the sugar and textile industry resisted fixing the intervention price of cotton.
He further said that sugarcane is a water-guzzling crop and consumes 3-4 times more water than cotton. Pakistan has become a water deficit country; we should plan crops considering water use. Sugarcane is also known as the Potash mining crop, it is one of the main reasons for shifting sugar mills to the south of Punjab from central Punjab. More than 60% of our land is now Potash deficient and requires the application of Potash fertilizer for optimal yields, he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020