TOBA TEK SINGH: To save the sugarcane growers from mills’ exploitation, Lok Sanjh, a non-government organisation (NGO), is helping them with its gur centre at Chak 301-GB where they bring sugarcane which is crushed there and then and get gur made from their produce.

Amer Rashid, the head of the Lok Sanjh, said the centre was working on a no-profit-no-loss basis.

He said the farmers were charged a nominal amount of only Rs40 per maund (40kg) sugarcane for producing gur from their crop.

He said about 16 litre juice was produced after crushing sugarcane in the centre’s crushing plant and almost four kilo gur was made from it.

The orgnisation was not aiming at making profit and last month it had to bear financial loss as well, he said, adding they would try to set up more such centres in the district in the next sugarcane crushing season.

Sahil Sultani and Noor Muhammad, the farmers present at the centre, told this correspondent they were selling four kilo gur in the market against Rs280 (Rs70 per kg) while sugar mills paid only Rs150 to Rs170 per maund sugarcane besides the mills also deducted one to three kilo sugarcane per maund with the so-called excuse of its bad quality.

The farmers said the payment by the mills was not in cash and it was paid through bank cheques, not cashable until April. They stated that due to distribution of farmlands into small holdings, small growers had abandoned setting up their own crushing machines (bailna) for making gur.

The Lok Sanjh centre would be greatly helpful in increasing their income, the expressed hope.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2015

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