Farmers will stop cultivating crop from next sowing season, warns SCA

Sindh Taraqi Pasand blocks Hyderabad-TM Khan road for four hours in solidarity with farmers

HYDERABAD: After almost three months when it began, the sugar cane procurement price controversy still seems unresolved with the growers complaining of being paid lower than the official rate.

After around a two-week halt, the mills resumed the cane purchasing a couple of days ago but the farmers' claim of being paid not above Rs140 per 40 kilogrammes.

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) warned on Sunday that the farmers have grown disgruntled by the low price and an apparent government support to the sugar mill owners. "A large number of farmers will stop cultivating the sugar cane crop [from the next sowing season]," a statement issued after a meeting of the SCA, attended by its representatives from Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and others districts, warned.

"In the past, the mills used to start crushing by October 10 every year and now, they delay the process by three or more months and pay a low price," the meeting, chaired by SCA General Secretary Zahid Hussain Bhurgari, observed with dismay.

Under Sindh Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950, the provincial government notified the crushing season belated in the first week of December, 2017, and fixed Rs182 per 40 kilogrammes rate for the crop. However, the mills started paying Rs40 to Rs60 less in price to the farmers who later took the matter to the Sindh High Court.

The court ordered on December 21 the mills to pay Rs172 per 40 kilogrammes to the farmers and deposit Rs10 per 40 kilogrammes in the court until the petition is decided. However, instead of paying the price, 25 out of 32 mills in the province closed the mills.



The crop is cultivated on around 600,000 acres in Sindh. The SCA also claimed that the mills are unjustifiably deducting 28% from the total weight from each farmer selling the crop.

Protest continues

The Sindh Taraqi Pasand (STP) party blocked the Hyderabad-TM Khan road for four hours on Sunday, staging a sit-in against the mills and in solidarity with the farmers. The protesters raised slogans against the Sindh government.

"The Omni group owns 19 sugar mills and dominates Pakistan Sugar Mills Association [Sindh chapter]. Because of this group, Sindh's agricultural economy has been put on the path of destruction," alleged Dr Abdul Hameed Memon, STP's vice president.



He said the growers are being fobbed off by resuming operations of the closed sugar mills so that their protest movement can be weakened. The Sindh Sugarcane Joint Action Committee announced the blocking of the highways for today (January 8) but the call was withdrawn after the mills resumed the process of cane purchase.