SUGAR cane remains an important cash crop in NWFP after tobacco. Although most of the crop is used for making refined sugar in the mills, still quite a sizeable output is used in manufacturing “gur”. A small quantity is produced for chewing. Some of the quantity is retained as seed while canetops are used as fodder for animals. Gur or brown sugar is traditionally used as a substitute of white sugar, in most parts NWFP and the adjoining tribal areas. Sugar cane remains a cash crop for farmers of Peshawar, Charsaddah, Mardan and Swabi districts. The major producing areas of NWFP sell their produce to mills. But for the past few years, farmers have started switching over to gur-making by installing small manufacturing units, called locally as “Gani”.
The treatment at the hands of the mill owners has forced farmers to switch over to gur-making. These farmers allegedly suffer from hassles ranging from the issue of indents, short weighing to the delays in payments. They opt for gur-manufacturing for of better returns as compared to that given by mills. Gur is not only enough to meet the needs of the people of NWFP, its surplus is exported to the neighbouring Afghanistan.
When asked about the emerging trend, Aziz Ahmad, a grower from of Shamozai area, District Mardan said the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) was responsible for it because of under-payment to the growers. He said that prices paid by mill owners in the province were much lower than those paid in other provinces. “In Punjab, farmers are paid at the rate of Rs65 per 40 kg. In Sindh, price for this season remained between Rs70-95 per 40 kgs while in NWFP, the price remained at Rs42 for the major part of the season and increased only recently to Rs60 per 50 kgs only after protest by farmers.”
The returns from gur production are also better as compared to those secured from the sugar-mills. While explaining the difference between the two prices, Aziz said that about 75 kg of gur is obtained from about 700 kg (14 mound) of sugar cane which provide growers about Rs1600-1700. On the other hand, providing 700 kg of crop to mills fetch Rs840 (14 mound x Rs60). In gur making, the returns are almost doubled.
Muhambar Khan, another grower from the same village, compared the prices of sugar cane paid to growers and those of the white refined sugar in the market. He said that Rs42 per 40kgs of sugar cane was fixed when the sugar used to sell in market at Rs.19, which now has shoot up at Rs28-30. On the other hand, mill owners are still offering old prices, despite the fact that because of inflation, prices of different inputs have gone up considerably.
Haji Sarfaraz, an elder of Ghundoo village, Mardan pointed out that gur-manufacturing is almost a century-old practice in this part of the country. While recalling the hardships of growers in selling their produce to mills he said that, “getting an indent from a mill and then arranging for a vehicle for transportation of the crop to mills is an uphill task”.
Hussain Khan, a commission agent at the Shergarh gur market, District Mardan, said that export of gur to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republic (CARs) had been going on for the past few years. However, this export, according to him, has drastically decreased after the ouster of Taliban regime because of the abundance of the US-imported sugar in Afghanistan and that too at lower rates as compared to gur. Secondly, a majority of exporters are reluctant to do business due to the law and order situation.
Nawab Ali, a grower from HajiAbad (Katlang area) stressed the need for a proper platform for gur producers to deal with problems they are facing. “ Growers are at the receiving-end because of the absence of their representation at various government levels where unilateral decisions are taken by the authorities and organizations without consulting them”.
He also recalled that in order to discourage gur production, the Government promulgated the ‘Power Crusher Licensing Amendment Ordinance’, 2001 NWFP”, under which ‘Gur ganies’ were registered for the purposes of documentation on payment of Rs500 as a fee and cane crushers of 12.5 horse power and above having karai (cooking pot) above 36 cubic feet. Ganies with capacity of 330 kg’s of gur were required to obtain license on payment of Rs50,000 per annum.
Commenting on the PSMA’s claim about gur production being a tax-free cottage industry, Nawab Ali counted various taxes like abyana (water tax), Sugar Cane Road Cess, etc paid by gur producers. He also drew a contrast in the practice of 20 oer cent annual increase in abiyana when compared to other provinces.
Nawab Ali reckoned that more employment is provided by the gur manufacturing units in the four districts compared to that of all the mills operating in the province. He warned that any one-sided decision by the government regarding gur production units, will not only create unemployment, it will also add to the financial woes of farmers.
Despite the fact that gur can earn a handsome amount in foreign exchange through exports—like it did in the past—, the government decision is likely to leave farmers at the mercy of mill owners.
Like growers of other crops, sugar cane growers of the province are also facing a host of problems. The prices of agricultural inputs are going out of the reach of farmers very fast. These include fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, power tariffs and diesel. “Farmers are facing an unprecedented increase in the prices of chemical fertilizers and diesel prices are also rising day by day. The pesticides have become also too costly and also very spurious, lamented Aziz Ahmed.
Growers demand that the government should regularize and encourage gur production to improve returns from sugar cane crop and earn foreign exchange from exports to the Central Asian countries, he concluded.
