PESHAWAR: The growers on Monday demanded of the government to implement the Supreme Court’s decision to ensure the payment of arrears to sugarcane farmers by sugar millers at the rate of Rs180 per 40kg.

Kisan Board Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Rizwanullah Khan told a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club that the millers in the province had procured sugarcane from growers at Rs120 and Rs130 per 40kg during the last season, which was against the total cost of production.

He said the delay in procurement of sugarcane had also caused huge financial losses to the provincial exchequer.

Accompanied by other Kisan Board office-bearers, Mr Rizwanullah said the Supreme Court had asked the government to ensure the payment of the outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers as per price of Rs180 per 40kg but the millers were defying the court’s orders to the misery of growers.

He asked the authorities concerned to intervene to ensure the early payment of dues to sugarcane farmers saying this will help them spend the money in the harvest during the upcoming season.

The Kisan Board president regretted that the federal government had imposed additional taxes on tobacco crop causing financial problems for farmers.

He also said there was a need for regulating jaggery export to benefit the local economy.

Mr Rizwanullah criticised the provincial government over ‘failure’ to adopt any vibrant policy for the development of agriculture sector.

He said he was hopeful that the next elected government would prioritise the development of agriculture sector in the province.

He warned that the growers would stage a sit-in in Peshawar if their demand was not met.

Another Kisan Board leader, Abdul Samad Safi, regretted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had no crop testing laboratory.

He said growers had suffered huge financial losses due to the wrong policies of the provincial government.

“We have prepared draft suggestions for the development of agriculture sector,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2018