Sugarcane crushing delayed in Sindh despite getting the green light
Agriculture Chamber gives govt 48-hour deadline for ensuring implementation.
HYDERABAD:
After losing quarter of their sugarcane crop to the recent floods, growers are frustrated by the delay of crushing by sugar mills despite the lapse of the mutually agreed date of November 1.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Friday gave a 48-hour deadline to Sindh government to ensure implementation on its notification. “Farmers, who have already suffered a lot due to the floods, will not tolerate dawdling by the government or the mills,” a meeting of the growers’ representatives warned.
Sugarcane was sown on 265,000 hectares in Sindh of which 75,500 hectares were destroyed by rains and flood, according to Sindh Agriculture Department estimates. A meeting between the mills’ representatives and growers last month decided to begin crushing by November 1.
“Although mid or end of October suits farmers, we conceded for November 1 with a condition that no further delay will be allowed,” Aijaz Nabi Shah of the chamber, who attended the meeting, told The Express Tribune.
Claiming that none of the 32 mills in the province have announced the commencement of crushing, he said it takes about a week after firing the boilers that the crushing process starts. Shah also said that seven mills in the upper Sindh region have been given November 15 as the start date.
Ideal time to sow wheat
The farming community wants to empty their sugarcane fields in order to sow wheat as November is the ideal time to cultivate wheat and get bumper production.
“The more we delay the sowing, the less will be the harvest,” Shah said.
He maintained that mills get greater leverage on bargaining for cheaper rates and more sweetener content from sugarcane by delaying procurement.
“But this year the situation is different. Most of the crops have soaked up excess water, which exposes them to risk.”
As the cane sticks hardly survive two or three days after cutting, therefore, growers feel compelled to sell them even in an unfavourable bargain, he added.
The left bank districts of Sindh including Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Matiari, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar and Badin contribute around two-thirds of the province’s cane production. All of them were declared calamity-hit after the recent monsoon rains.
The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture blames the Sindh cane commissioner for conniving with the mills to the detriment of the growers. “We will lay a siege to the commissioner’s office if our demand is not accepted,” said Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Dr Nadeem Qamar.
The farmers also want a procurement rate of Rs250 per 40 kilogramme of cane while the government has fixed the same at Rs154 per 40-kg, up by Rs27 from the last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
After losing quarter of their sugarcane crop to the recent floods, growers are frustrated by the delay of crushing by sugar mills despite the lapse of the mutually agreed date of November 1.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Friday gave a 48-hour deadline to Sindh government to ensure implementation on its notification. “Farmers, who have already suffered a lot due to the floods, will not tolerate dawdling by the government or the mills,” a meeting of the growers’ representatives warned.
Sugarcane was sown on 265,000 hectares in Sindh of which 75,500 hectares were destroyed by rains and flood, according to Sindh Agriculture Department estimates. A meeting between the mills’ representatives and growers last month decided to begin crushing by November 1.
“Although mid or end of October suits farmers, we conceded for November 1 with a condition that no further delay will be allowed,” Aijaz Nabi Shah of the chamber, who attended the meeting, told The Express Tribune.
Claiming that none of the 32 mills in the province have announced the commencement of crushing, he said it takes about a week after firing the boilers that the crushing process starts. Shah also said that seven mills in the upper Sindh region have been given November 15 as the start date.
Ideal time to sow wheat
The farming community wants to empty their sugarcane fields in order to sow wheat as November is the ideal time to cultivate wheat and get bumper production.
“The more we delay the sowing, the less will be the harvest,” Shah said.
He maintained that mills get greater leverage on bargaining for cheaper rates and more sweetener content from sugarcane by delaying procurement.
“But this year the situation is different. Most of the crops have soaked up excess water, which exposes them to risk.”
As the cane sticks hardly survive two or three days after cutting, therefore, growers feel compelled to sell them even in an unfavourable bargain, he added.
The left bank districts of Sindh including Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Matiari, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar and Badin contribute around two-thirds of the province’s cane production. All of them were declared calamity-hit after the recent monsoon rains.
The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture blames the Sindh cane commissioner for conniving with the mills to the detriment of the growers. “We will lay a siege to the commissioner’s office if our demand is not accepted,” said Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Dr Nadeem Qamar.
The farmers also want a procurement rate of Rs250 per 40 kilogramme of cane while the government has fixed the same at Rs154 per 40-kg, up by Rs27 from the last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.