HYDERABAD: While the cane crushing season is going to end soon, farmers in Sindh have been left at the mercy of sugar mill owners who flatly refused to buy sugar cane on the government notified rate of Rs182 per 40 kilograms, it emerged on Monday.

Out of 37 sugar mills in Sindh, 29 have started cane crushing after delaying commencement of the crushing for around two months on the pretext of a high court order issued on the plea of the Sindh Zone of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).

Although there is no stay or restraining order by the high court against the payment of the notified price of Rs182, the mills are adamant not to pay this price or issue receipts to cane growers even after getting their crops.

There is a strong disappointment among growers as they believe that the PSMA was depriving the Sindh farmers of their right, as the mill owners’ body did not raise any objection over the cane price in Punjab, which was fixed at Rs180 per 40kg and where millers were buying cane at that price and PSMA had no issue.

Traditionally, the cane price in Sindh is always up by a few rupees keeping in view the recovery of sucrose content in sugar cane.

But growers said that the managements of sugar mills were not paying the price and at least in the Tando Allahyar district strong-arm tactics were being used by police to force them to sell crop to factories.

Besides, according to growers in the lower Sindh, mills are making huge deductions in weight of crop transported in trolleys to the disadvantage of the growers.

Last year, the Sindh government did not increase the sugar cane price. It had fixed it at Rs172 per 40kg, which was announced in 2012-13 season primarily because the millers had refused to comply with the government’s decision.

Great resentment prevails among growers against indifferent attitude of sugar mill owners and according to Mahmood Nawaz Shah, vice president of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), he has refused to attend a meeting with PSMA, Sindh zone, despite their invitation.

“We think that the government and PSMA are [working] hand in glove,” he said.

The price controversy badly hit sugar cane crushing this season after PSMA refused to pay the official rate of Rs182 per 40kg fixed in November. It moved the SHC questioning the provisions of the Sugar Factories Control Act 1950 under which the government fixes cane price and announces date for commencement of the crushing season.

It asked the court to fix the price of sweetener, which is end product of sugar cane. The high court directed the government to fix the sugar price after considering cost of farmers’ input.

While price of sugar was not fixed, the Sindh government issued a new notification, fixing rate of cane at Rs155 as “interim price” on Dec 3. Amidst growers’ mounting pressure, the Sindh chief minister on Dec 7 withdrew it and re-issued the notification of Rs182.

The PSMA had filed a fresh petition, requesting the court to restrain the government functionaries from harassing them.

The high court passed an order, directing the government that no coercive measures should be taken against the mills.

“But this high court order doesn’t stop the mills to pay the price of Rs182 [per 40kg] to us. It is not a stay order as the court had only ruled that coercive measures should not be taken against mills as far as the crushing of cane is concerned”, said Dr Nadeem Qamar, the president of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture.

The Matiari Sugar Mills, according to Mr Qamar, had earlier promised to pay Rs172, which was fixed by the government last year, but amidst the ongoing controversy this mill was also offering Rs155 ignoring the fact that the government had already withdrawn the notification to this effect.

Sugar factories are not mentioning any amount of rate on receipts being issued to growers. Crop of small cane growers who turn up at mills with four to six trolleys is not even purchased by mills.

“We were kept in the dark when a case was filed by the PSMA as farmers’ bodies were not even cited as respondents and then we ourselves became intervener in the matter,” said Mr Shah, the SAB’s vice president.

There is a great unrest among cane growers of Tando Allahyar over high-handedness of police.

“What could we do when police force us to sell cane to Tando Allahyar and Chambar sugar mills. Police even enter field to seize crop being harvested and take them to these two mills,” said a cane producer, Nabi Bux Lund, a former union nazim from the Tando Allahyar district.

He claimed that out of 350 maunds, 125 maunds is deducted by factory management unilaterally.

He said that the mills deducted the 125 maunds weight notwithstanding the fact that the growers had invested heavily on entire 350 maunds obtained from certain acres of land be it irrigation water, transportation, land’s rent, and crop harvesting.

“There is no justification but they [mills management] do it on different pretext like varieties of cane saying that these are rejected ones,” Lund argued.

He said that his two trolleys and his cousin Ghulam Qadir and Rafiq were impounded by police and taken to two factories.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2014