KARACHI, Sept 22: Growers have suggested Rs84 per 40kg as minimum procurement price for sugarcane for the next crushing season due to start from October next.

The suggestion came at a meeting between growers’ representatives and Sindh Secretary agriculture Subhago Khan Jatoi who suggested the new price to be Rs81.

Giving arguments in support of their suggested price, growers said that the Punjab government had fixed the cane price at Rs80 per maund.

The procurement price in Sindh is always Rs2 to 3 higher than the Punjab price as it has better sugar content than the latter. The minimum cane price was fixed at Rs63 per maund for the last season, which was later reduced to Rs63 at the end of the season.

Anwer Bachani of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture told Dawn on telephone from Hyderabad that the question of non-payment of cane dues by the mills also came up for discussion at the meeting.

Growers told the secretary that mills still owe Rs850 million to growers. They urged the ministry to help growers get their dues before the new crushing season.

The growers also asked the ministry to set Oct 15 as the start of the next crushing season.

Mr Jatoi informed the meeting that the date for the new crushing season would bet set in consultation with the mills.

Sindh Sugarcane Commissioner Nazeer Hassan Jamali informed the growers that court cases would be filed against owners of defaulting mills for the recovery of cane dues.