They carried placards inscribed with slogans against owners of sugar mills.
Speaking at the rally, SSGA president Deewan Arumal, Dr Aziz Talpur, Abdul Aleem Memon and others criticized the attitude of the owners of the sugar mills and the apathy of the government.
They said the mill owners and the government had entered into an alliance to destroy the growers and the economy of Sindh.
They said under the relevant law the sugar mills had to start the crushing season by Oct 15 every year. The said the government had issued a notification giving the mills one extra month to start the crushing but the mill owners had defied these orders.
They said the delay in the crushing season would destroy standing crop over 875,000 acres.
The growers’ leaders said sugar mills could not have defied the orders without the connivance of government authorities concerned.
They said, under the relevant law, a fine of Rs100,000 could be imposed on the owners of the sugar mills for their defiance but, they regretted, non of them had been fined.
They said the shortage of water supply had already affected their sugarcane crop, valued at over Rs10 billion.
They said the mill owners had also refused to pay last year’s dues to the growers.
They said the mill owners had paid quality premium to feudal lords but the small growers had not been paid the premium since the 1998-99 crushing season.
They pointed out the standing crop of sugarcane was losing its weight with each passing day and, they said, over 200,000 haris and agriculture workers were facing starvation.
They ridiculed the argument of the mill owners that their last year production of sugar had not been lifted and said it was not the fault of the growers but of the government which had imported large quantity of sugar from India.
They warned the growers would hold protest demonstrations throughout the province if the crushing season was not started before Eid.
They said the growers would not be able to cultivate wheat crop till the crushing was started.