Sugarcane procurement: Farmers threaten two mills with boycott

Farmers want procurement prices adequately revised.

SADIQABAD: Sugarcane farmers on Wednesday warned they will stop supply to two sugar mills in the district unless procurement prices were adequately revised.

The decision was announced in a meeting held at the residence of Abdul Sattar Chaddhar, a local farmer. It was organised by farmers affiliated with the Pakistan Kissan Board, the Jamiat Tahaffuz Huqooq Kissan and some local organisations.

A spokesperson for one of the sugar mills, however, rejected the suggestion that the farmers could suspend supply. He said that only a small group was making the demands, while majority of the farmers were satisfied with the rates they were getting.

Earlier, the participants of the farmer’s meeting unanimously decided to boycott the United Sugar Mills and the Jamaldinwali Sugar Mills unless these mills raised rates. They demanded that the mills raise their rates to Rs250 per 40 kg. (At present, the mills are buying sugarcane at Rs150 per kg).

They said that supply to other mills in the province would be continued if they respected farmers’ demands. They warned that if mill owners continued to ignore their concerns, they would initiate a protest drive and even arrange a sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly and the National Assembly.

The meeting decided to suspend sugarcane harvest for a week.

The meeting was attended by Kissan Board’s Rahim Yar Khan chapter president Haji Riaz Ahmed Cheema and Jamiat Tahhafuz Huqooq Kissan president Saeed Mustafa. Other prominent participants were Waheed Hussain, Advocate Ghafoor, Rub Nawaz and Jam Bahadur.

The farmers warned that they would stage sit-ins in front of the sugar mills that refused to purchase sugarcanes at the “right rates”.

The farmers complained that input costs had gone so high that it was not feasible for them to sell sugarcane at current rates.

They said that the country’s progress was linked to the agricultural sector.

They said petrol, diesel and sugar prices were being revised every other day so that there was no reason why there should not be a revision in sugarcane prices. Dr Gulzar Ahmed, a United Sugar Mills spokesperson, when contacted for his response, rejected the suggestion that the sugarcane farmers might withdraw supply to his or any other mill in the district. He said that the price set by the government was Rs125 per 40 kg, adding that the mills had voluntarily increased the rate by Rs25 per 40 kg, to Rs150 per 40 kg.

To a question about Wednesday’s meeting, he said there was no organisation by the name of Kissan Board in Rahim Yar Khan and held that it was only a small group of farmers who were making unfair demands. He said that most farmers were supplying sugarcane, adding that United was getting about 50 per cent of its crushing capacity everyday.

The farmers’ groups said they will hold the next meeting on December 21 to review the situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2010.