LAHORE, Sept 28: Farmers from Punjab on Friday questioned the government’s decision to start cane crushing season from Nov 1, saying that the decision would affect wheat sowing and was based on wrong assumptions.

They said as optimum sowing deadline for wheat was Nov 20, the farmers would not be able to clear their 1.5 million acres in 20 days and sow the next crop. If millers started their boilers from Nov 1, they would need another week before they started crushing cane, they said.

They said crushing would begin in the first week of Nov and give farmers only two weeks to harvest the crop, prepare the land and sow the next one. They suggested the government asked millers to fire boilers by mid-Oct and start crushing by the 20th.

They claimed that it was true that acreage in the province had increased by five per cent this season and stood at 1.8 million acres in Punjab, 500,000 in Sindh and 200,000 in the NWFP.

But, this acreage is no guarantee for better yield. “Three factors could affect the crop in a big way. They include: drop in the use of DAP this Feb, more than usual pest attack and same old variety of wheat,” says Ibrahim Mughal of the AgriForum Pakistan. He insisted that exaggerated yield benefited both the millers and the government officials. The millers’ propaganda of bumper crop was aimed at bringing the market down and lead to price crash, he said.

He said officials tried to get political mileage out of inflated figures, but farmers had to suffer the direct consequences from this misplaced optimism.

Since there was no credible mechanism to estimate the crop and yield size, farmers became the inevitable victims, said Farooq Bajwa of the Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP).

Both the government and millers joined hand to project the optimistic view of the crop size and let the farmers suffer. This year was no exception either. The millers projected a bumper yield to force the government into stopping cheap sugar import and hiked the price. He alleged the government was harping on inflated figures to show its performance. In this misplaced euphoria, no one was ready to study the factors that ruled the crop and final yield, he said. In all probability, the farmers would suffer the consequences, he insisted.

He said since the price of cane differed in all cane producing provinces, inter-provincial transportation of cane could not be ruled out either.

“All bordering districts of Punjab with the NWFP and Sindh will be more willing to sell their crop across the provincial border. Price in Punjab is the lowest at Rs60 per 40kg, whereas it is at Rs67 in Sindh and Rs65 in the NWFP. This will lead to cross border movement for better returns. Given the magnitude of smuggling of wheat, the country could face sugar crisis. The officials need to keep all these factors in mind before deciding anything.”