SCA laments delay in sugarcane crushing

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has criticised the decision of sugar mills to postpone the commencement of the cane-crushing season and bewailed the fact that the government seems powerless.

The SCA secretary, Abdul Karim Talpur said, if the mills do not burn their boilers by November 5, the wheat sowing on fields currently occupied by sugarcane will become very difficult.

According to him, the agricultural fields are largely underwater in Sindh due to monsoon rains and subsequent flooding. However, he said the land on which the sugarcane crop was grown could be used for sowing the wheat crop.

The situation, he added, may create an acute shortage of wheat next year, leading to a further hike in the price of flour.

He lamented that the recent meeting in Karachi of the growers’ representatives with the officials of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association ended inconclusively without fixing the purchase price of cane or announcing the date from which the buyer will begin.

A follow-up meeting between the two sides will be held after 10 days, which the farmers contend will be late.