HYDERABAD: Leaders of three major farmers’ organisations have warned that if the Sindh government fails to fix sugar cane price in the Sindh Sugarcane Control Board meeting scheduled for Nov 29, they will stage a sit-in on the National Highway on Dec 4 and continue the protest till the cane rate is fixed at Rs182 per 40 kilogrammes.

At a joint press conference at the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) office here on Friday, SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) president Kabool Mohammad Khatian and president of Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI) Nawab Zubair Talpur said that Sindh government must announce Rs182/40kg sugar cane rate and fix date for 2017-18 cane crushing season.

They said that Punjab government had already announced Rs180/40kg price of cane. In Sindh, crushing was always started in October but after the arrival of a certain firm in sugar industry the crushing was now being notified in November instead of October, they said.

Threaten sit-in on National Highway after 29th

Mr Nizamani said that sugar millers should be grateful to farmers for helping them get a subsidy of Rs11 billion. If the government did not fix the rate in Nov 29 meeting, they would take their decision after mutual consultation, he warned.

He hoped the meeting would prove fruitful and take positive decisions. Inordinate delay in cane harvest had delayed sowing of wheat on 35,000 to 50,000 acres which would certainly affect the grain’s production, he said.

He expected the sugar mills to start crushing by the first week of December and that too if the millers agreed to do so. The longer the cane stood in fields it would lose weight and it would be difficult to get labourers who would be busy in sowing vegetables and land preparation by that time, he said.

Mr Nizamani said that growers would have to divert water to standing cane crop to save it at the expense of wheat and other winter crops.

Justice demanded that crushing be started in October so that wheat could be sown on time, he said.

Newly-elected SCA president Mr Khatian said that at present it was growers who were facing losses while the millers were once again preparing for reaping huge profits. The crushing season had already been stretched to November from October and now the current month was also going to end. With the present state of sugar cane, it would benefit millers with increased sucrose recovery, he said.

SAI president Nawab Zubair said the government might convene the meeting on Nov 29 but it must remember that if it did not fix the cane rate at Rs182/40kg it would have to face growers’ agitation.

He blamed one particular firm for creating difficulties for farmers since it had entered the sugar industry. Most of the mills were owned by those sitting in Sindh and federal governments, he said.

He criticised the federal government for not allowing export of sugar without rebate when the millers wanted to export the sweetener even without subsidy.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017