HYDERABAD, Dec 2: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) on Sunday threatened that the growers would give up altogether cultivation of sugarcane and switch over to other crops such as cotton and sunflower if they were not paid Rs70 per 40 kilogramme of sugarcane.
The chamber leaders Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui, Mohammad Khan Sarejo and Fazal Qadir Memon advocate said at a news conference at the press club that the government had fixed minimum cane price at Rs67 per 40 kg for the current season without taking growers into confidence.
But even then the mill owners were not ready to pay them government fixed price and unilaterally reduced the rate to Rs60 per 40 kg, with some mill owners audaciously asking the growers not to harvest the crop unless they were prepared to sell it at Rs60 per 40 kg, Mr Siddiqui said.
They closed down most of the mills in the province after the growers refused to accept the reduced rates. Spiralling inflation and excessive increase in the prices of agricultural inputs had forced the chamber to raise the demand for Rs70 per 40 kg because even Rs67 were less than the cost of production, he said.
Not only growers but even consumers suffered due to this anomaly, he said and pointed out that the mills were to start crushing in October, according to the relevant law, but they had never ever obeyed the law and always delayed the start to November or December, he said.
He said that the mill owners had been violating this law with complete impunity over past 10 years and it was high time the government evolved a modus operandi to save the interests of growers and consumers.
Mr Siddiqui pointed out that belated harvest of the crop caused an increase in the sugar content of sugarcane but decreased its weight, much to the ruin of growers.
He appealed to the mill owners and the government to fix the minimum price of sugarcane at Rs70 per 40 kg. If the government did not agree to their just demands the growers reserved the right to seek remedy from the court of law, he said.
If the mill owners did not change their attitude, the growers would be forced to give up cultivation of sugarcane next year and opt for cotton, sunflower and other crops, he warned.
Mohammad Khan Sarejo, who is president of the Badin chapter of the chamber, said that although the prime minister had announced a special agricultural package for the calamity-hit Badin district but it was never implemented.
He distributed copies of the prime minister’s letter dated Aug 28, 2006, which had directed that the Zarai Taraqqiati Bank would remit agriculture loans up to Rs200,000 and waive interest on loans up to Rs500,000 and the facility was available up to Aug 31, 2006.
But the instructions were never implemented despite the fact that Badin had suffered massive losses from calamities, he said.
