HYDERABAD: Despite the sugarcane crop being fully ready for harvest across Sindh, sugar mills have yet to begin the crushing season, leaving farmers in distress and causing significant delays in wheat sowing.
The situation has led to a serious deadlock between growers and mill owners, with fears of an emerging food security crisis. Before the 18th Amendment, the Sugarcane Act of 1950 still applicable in Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mandated the government to determine the crushing season and support price.
However, Sindh Abadgar Board President and Sugar Advisory Board member Mehmood Nawaz Shah said that despite the law being intact, the Sindh government neither fixed a support price last year nor notified the crushing season, effectively deregulating the entire process. In contrast, the federal government last year regulated sugar prices at Rs140 per kg.
Shah said that once the 2024–25 crushing season concluded in February 2025, retail sugar prices climbed to Rs200 per kg. He claimed that sugar mills earned an estimated profit of Rs58 billion last year, even with a minimal calculation of Rs10 per kg of sugarcane. If the sector has been deregulated, then why does the government continue to fix the price of sugar? Export permissions and allowances for producing jaggery should also be granted but they are not, he added.
He said over a month has passed since the crop matured, yet most mills have not begun operations. From December 8 onward, many mills may start crushing, but by then farmers will have already suffered losses and failed to sow wheat on time, he warned.
Shah further noted that under the Sugar Factories Control Act, mills must start crushing by November 30 even if the government fails to set a support price. This law too has been ignored, he said. The Sindh Abadgar Board has already filed a case in the Sindh High Court, Mirpurkhas bench, against the deregulation decision.
Shah said last year’s support price was Rs425 per 40 kg, and remains the same this year despite sugar retailing at Rs220 per kg and production costs rising sharply.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture General Secretary Zahid Bhurgari said both federal and provincial governments have avoided announcing the support price due to IMF pressure, enabling mill owners to exploit growers. He said the Sugarcane Control Act mandates crushing to start from November 15, but once again this year mills failed to comply.
He said the Sindh government convened a meeting of the Sugarcane Control Board, attended by the cane commissioner, officials, and growers, but sugar mill owners did not participate. Their absence reflects the influence they wield. Except for two mills, crushing has not commenced anywhere in Sindh, he added.
Bhurgari said mill owners raised sugarcane prices from Rs400 to Rs650 last year, while sugar was fixed between Rs120-140 per kg. Based on this ratio, sugarcane this year should be priced at Rs800 per 40 kg, but mills are offering only Rs400. Mills earn around Rs4,000 per 40 kg through by-products such as bagasse, ethanol, and industrial alcohol, he claimed.
He said growers, who are demanding Rs600 per 40 kg, refuse to sell at the current rate. To prevent shortages, farmers’ bodies have advised small growers to sell a limited quantity to mills initially. Had mills begun crushing on November 15, wheat could have been sown in time, he added. Due to policy failures, a major wheat shortfall is expected. Sindh typically sows wheat on 1.176 million acres, but this year estimates suggest only around 600,000 acres have been cultivated because land remains occupied by sugarcane.
Growers also fear that food security may be compromised. They plan to reduce sugarcane sowing next year as a form of protest, potentially shifting sowing to late February.
Zahid Bhurgari said the government should calculate the cost of producing sugarcane and determine mill profits to set a fair price but the government continues to side with mill owners, leaving farmers to bear the losses.
He said that Sindh Chamber of Agriculture President Nadeem Qamar is expected to return to Pakistan soon to convene a meeting and announce future protests. Zahid Bhurgari told that on November 5, 2025, the Sugar Advisory Board chaired by Federal Minister Rana Tanveer decided that sugar mills must begin crushing by November 15, and fines would be imposed for non-compliance.
However, the decision was never implemented, nor were any penalties imposed. The board was informed that the country had a sugar stock of 300,000 metric tonnes, and mills were assured that if surplus sugar remained, exports could be allowed by February. Even then, mills refused to start operations.
A previous board meeting, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, also directed mills to begin crushing by November 15 and allowed sugar sales at Rs178 per kg, but mill owners disregarded all directives.
Sindh Abadgar Ittehad President Nawab Zubair Talpur said only two sugar mills one in Mirpurkhas and one in Ghotki started crushing, but the police were forced to shut down. He warned that large tracts of land remain unplanted with wheat due to delays in sugarcane harvesting, raising concerns of severe shortages. Farmers, he said, are now losing interest in growing sugarcane due to constant exploitation.
He said the Sindh Growers Alliance filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, Karachi, stating that mills violated the cane commissioner’s directives. During the hearing on November 28, the government assured the court that mills would begin crushing soon. The court has summoned the agriculture secretary and cane commissioner on December 5.
Farmers say that for years, poor governance, lack of timely decisions, and flawed agricultural policies have severely damaged the farming sector, leaving growers at the mercy of influential mill owners.
