PESHAWAR: The delay in crushing season of sugarcane crop has caused serious unrest among the growers who fear that the cold response of millers to start the process will waste cultivation time of wheat crop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Friday, Kisan Board Pakistan provincial president Rizwanullah Khan said that the delay in cultivation of wheat crop would affect the production of various crops and vegetables. He also demanded raise in the support price of sugarcane and early start of crushing season to save growers from bankruptcy.

Flanked by Kisan Board provincial general secretary Abdul Samad, former provincial minister Hafiz Hashmat Khan and Fazalullah Daudzai, Mr Rizwan said that most of the problems being faced by the farmers were due to absence of agricultural policy in province.

He said that the delay would have multiple implications for the farm sector. It deals a blow to harvesting of sugarcane and sowing of wheat crop in the area where sugarcane remains in the field. He said that successive governments had never bothered to frame a comprehensive agricultural policy. He demanded fixation of per 40kg price of sugarcane at Rs210 and commencement of crushing season without delay.

Demand increase in support price

Mr Rizwan said that the price of sugarcane was fixed at Rs180 per 40kg during the last season, which was insufficient to meet the increasing cost of production and others expenses. He claimed the cost of sugarcane production remained up to Rs237 per 40kg during last year, due to which the farmers had to face a loss of Rs57 per 40kg.

He demanded that the support price should be increased to Rs210 per 40kg to save the small farmers from financial losses in the current season.

The sugar millers, he said, should start the sugarcane crushing before Nov 15 so that the farmers could cultivate other crops on time. He said that if the government failed to resolve their issues the local economy would get a serious setback. He regretted that the farmers had made huge investment in cultivation of crops, but they didn’t get the support price of their harvest in the market.

The Kisan Board president said that the number of sugar mills in KP was low and they too used to start crushing with much delay. “We have no other option, but to stop its cultivation because farmers are unable to meet even the labour charges,” he said.

He said that in Dera Ismail Khan there were three sugar mills and they too used to buy sugarcane from Punjab while the growers of KP had to wait in line and face financial issues. He urged the mills owners not to buy sugarcane from outside before finishing of stock with local growers.

He suggested fixation of uniform commission for gur, which could be acceptable to growers. He said that the gur commission agents should be bound to avoid imposing additional charges against the fixed commission.

Mr Rizwan said that sugarcane was a cash crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and being cultivated on around 293,450 acres in different districts, including Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2017