Sugar mills slammed: farmers' patience wearing thin

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture urges govt to act against mills slowing down sugarcane procurement, demands better prices

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has asked the provincial government to take action against sugar mills which have slowed down sugarcane procurement by decelerating sugar production. According to a press statement issued in Hyderabad on Sunday, the office bearers and members at a meeting of the SCA also called for increasing the cane purchase price to Rs600 per 40 kilograms.

The meeting, chaired by Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, warned of a steep reduction in wheat production in the next season in Sindh, pointing out that last year a 32% drop was witnessed because land in the province could not be cleared of the cane crop, allegedly thanks to the mills. He believed that the only way to spur wheat cultivation is providing adequate crop price to the farmers.

Qamar, who is a brother of Pakistan Peoples Party's senior leader MNA Syed Navid Qamar, demanded Rs5,000 per 40 kg procurement price for wheat in addition to enhancing the government purchase target to 1.5 million tons. He pointed out that only around 25% of the cultivated cane has been harvested so far because the mills have unjustifiably delayed the buying process. "Thousands of tractor trolleys find themselves stranded outside the mills for three to four days, hoping to unload cane," he lamented. According to him, such delays end up drying cane and reducing its sucrose content, on the basis of which the mills argue for making cuts to the procurement rate.

The farmers at the meeting also deplored that water rotation is still being implemented in the canals of the Sukkur barrage, even though it was slated to end by January 21. They complained that the ongoing repair and rehabilitation works in the Nara and Rohri canals appeared substandard.

The agriculturists also expressed serious concern over the nosediving rates of tomato and onion, requesting the government to immediately allow export of the two crops.

The meeting reiterated the demand of reducing the multi-billion dollar imports of edible oil by financially supporting local farmers to cultivate that crop locally. Attention was also drawn to financial losses being sustained by Khairpur district's date growers due to export constraints for the last four years.

Zahid Hussain Bhurgari, Nabi Bux Sathio, advocate Faisal Qadir Memon, advocate Taimur Behrani, Sirajuddin Aulia Rashdi, and Mir Abdul Kareem Talpur, among others, attended the meeting.