MARDAN: Growers have rejected the sugarcane price of Rs180 per 40kg fixed by the provincial government and demanded Rs70 increase in it.

The demand was made during a meeting of Kisan Board Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here on Saturday.

Kisan Board, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Rizwanullah Khan, general secretary Abdus Samad Safi and other officer-bearers, including Abdul Haleem Khan Mayar, Zahir Khan Wardag, Ihsanullah Khan, Ismail Jan, Niyamat Shah Roghani and Zahir Shah Bahluley also attended the meeting.

The participants said they’re disappointed to see the government fix a very low price of sugarcane and considered it a move meant to destroy farmers and agriculture sector.

They said the government had fixed sugarcane price at Rs180 per 40kg though the cost of production was Rs225 per 40kg and therefore, by accepting the government price, growers had to suffer a loss of Rs45 per 40kg.

The participants said scores of growers had badly been affected by hailstone and heavy rain, which damaged their standing crops, especially those of sugarcane, a few months ago, but unfortunately, the government had yet to compensate them for the loss.

They demanded that the government fix sugarcane price at Rs250 per 40kg.

Say rate should be increased by Rs70 per kg

The participants warned any delay in meeting their demand could adversely impact on sugarcane production in the province.

When contacted, Masood Khan of a local sugar mills, rejected the demand.

He said sugar price, too, should go up if the government increased sugarcane price to Rs250 per 40kg.

The sugar mills representative said sugar mills couldn’t afford higher sugarcane price under the current circumstances.

He said sugar mills in the province paid workers better than contemporaries in other provinces.

“Our minimum monthly wage is Rs15,000 though it is Rs12,000 in other provinces,” he said.

Masood Khan said Charssada Sugar Mills and Takhtbai Sugar Mills had already been closed down due to high expenditure and if the situation continued, his sugar mills could also halt production.

He said the government should address the grievances of both growers and mill owners.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Friday visited the Garden Campus of Abdul Wali Khan Mardan.

Visitors also met the vice chancellor and discussed matters of mutual interest.

Also in the day, Pakistan Army sepoy Zahid Ali Khan Yousafzai was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Katti Garhi area of Katlang tehsil here on Friday.

The sepoy had died in the Indian shelling in Pando area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control on the night between Thursday and Friday.

The funeral prayer was attended by a large number of people, including the army and police officers.

Published in Dawn, November 22th , 2014