Sindh Chamber of Agriculture calls on the government to act against mills that slow down procurement of sugarcane, demand better prices
HYDERABAD:
The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has asked the provincial government to take action against sugar mills, which have curbed cane procurement by curbing sugar production. According to a press release issued in Hyderabad on Sunday, the officials and members at a meeting of the SCA also called for raising the sugarcane purchase price to Rs600 per quintal. 40 kg.
The meeting, led by Dr. Syed Nadeem Qamar, warned of a steep decline in wheat production next season in Sindh, pointing out that last year there was a 32% drop because the land in the province could not be cleared for the sugarcane crop, allegedly thanks to the mills. He believed that the only way to spur wheat cultivation is to give the farmers an adequate crop price.
Qamar, who is a brother of Pakistan Peoples Party senior leader MNA Syed Navid Qamar, demanded Rs5,000 per 40 kg procurement price for wheat in addition to increasing the government’s procurement target to 1.5 million tonnes. He pointed out that only about 25% of the sugarcane cultivated has been harvested so far because the millers have unduly delayed the procurement process. “Thousands of tractor wagons are stranded outside the mills for three to four days hoping to load cane,” he lamented. According to him, such delays end up drying sugarcane and reducing its sucrose content, on the basis of which the millers argue to cut the procurement rate.
The farmers in the meeting also lamented that water rotation is still being carried out in the canals of the Sukkur barrage even though it was scheduled to end on January 21. They complained that the ongoing repair and rehabilitation works in the Nara and Rohri canals appeared substandard.
The farmers also expressed serious concern over the number of nose-diving tomatoes and onions and requested the government to immediately allow export of the two crops.
The meeting reiterated the demand to reduce multi-billion dollar imports of edible oil by financially supporting local farmers to grow this crop locally. Attention was also drawn to financial losses suffered by date farmers of Khairpur district due to export restrictions for the last four years.
Zahid Hussain Bhurgari, Nabi Bux Sathio, Advocate Faisal Qadir Memon, Advocate Taimur Behrani, Sirajuddin Aulia Rashdi, and Mir Abdul Kareem Talpur, among others, attended the meeting.
