HYDERABAD, Dec 5: Sindh Agriculture Minister Mohammad Muqeem Khan Khoso on Thursday pledged to safeguard the interests of the sugarcane growers.

Khoso said that the government was not considering any step or policy against the interests of the growers, including zoning system. No such move, the minister added, would be allowed in the private sector.

The minister, in a statement issued here, said that the government was taking measures to solve the problems of the sugarcane growers, adding that the representatives of the growers were being consulted in this regard.

He said that the restriction on sugarcane growers to supply sugarcane within their zone was removed in 1987 and growers were allowed to sell their produce to any mill.

The Sindh government would continue to adhere to this policy and would not allow any violation of this policy, he said.

The de-zoning policy was based on free trade mechanism, advocated by the government and domestic and global private sector, he said and added that no cartel or monopoly would be tolerated in this regard.

Referring to the fixing of minimum sugarcane support price for the crushing season 2002-2003, the minister said that the provincial governments, instead of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, had been authorized to fix crop prices, following a decision of the federal cabinet.

The minister said that soon afterwards the Sindh agriculture department had convened a meeting to discuss the issue with the growers and sugar mill owners.

He said that the representatives of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (Sindh zone) had demanded that the support price of sugarcane be reduced from Rs43 to Rs31 per 40 kg but the growers had put up their proposals.

He said that there was a likelihood that the past year’s support price would continue this year. The price, he added, had been approved by the growers’ representatives.—Bureau Report