Farmers not happy with the sugarcane prices
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 5:50:38 by Farhan Hameed
Delight of sugarcane growers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over the bumper crop this season was tarnished by the support prices announced by the Sugar Control Board recently. The farmers have rejected the Rs. 25 increase
per 40kg in the support prices this year, reaching Rs. 150 from Rs. 125 per 40kg last season.
The growers have cited that with the cost of production and land rent inflating up in an errant manner over the last year, the proposed support price is not sufficient for them. Provincial Minister for Agriculture, Arbab Ayub Jan,
held a round of dialogue with the representatives of sugar industry and cane growers last week but no proper solution could develop in the joint meeting.
One of the attendants of the meeting, Abdur Rahim Khan, general secretary of the KP Chamber of Agriculture, stated that the sugar mill owners were of the view that such a meeting was not a proper forum to re-negotiate the cane
price fixed by the Sugar Control Board.
“The industry representatives said they could not increase cane prices as they had set up mills to earn profit and not to incur losses. We will soon chalk out our strategy and may even ask farmers not to take their cane to mills
and rather make gur of it,” says Abdur Rahim.
Murad Ali Khan, leader of the KP Kissan Board, said that since the millers belong to the ruling elite class, they would always persuade the decisions end in their favour at any forum.
“The SCB determines the cane prices, but being composed of officials, millers and their handpicked farmer representatives, it usually fails to safeguard the interest of cane growers,” he complains.
The crushing process has already begun at the Premier Sugar Mills in Mardan since 16th November, with rest of the KP sugar mills following the similar suit. The cane growers have complained that they were already a month
late while the ‘gur’ making had begun nearly 50 days ago.
The ‘gur’ producers are the strongest competitors of sugar mills, as this product consumes around one-third of the cane crop every season.
Tags: cane, crop, crushing, gur, khyber, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, KP, mills, pakhtunkhwa, producers, sugar, sugar caneShort URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5031
Posted by Farhan Hameed
on Nov 29 2011. Filed under Business.
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