HYDERABAD: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has termed sugar mill owners a mafia that is economically exploiting farmers and demanded strict legal action under the Sindh Sugarcane Act against the mills allegedly operating with a slow crushing pace.
The chamber has also called for fixing the minimum price of sugar cane at Rs600 per maund. The demands were made during a meeting of the SCA at its headquarters in Hyderabad under the chairmanship of Central Patron-in-Chief and Central President Prof Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar.
A large number of growers from across Sindh attended the meeting. They staged a protest against sugar mill owners, alleging that they were deliberately crushing only 25 per cent of sugar cane and remained closed at night.
They said thousands of tractor-trolleys loaded with sugar cane were forced to wait outside mills for three to four days, causing the crop to dry up and resulting in heavy deductions in prices.
This practice, they claimed, had led to exploitation worth billions of rupees.
The meeting demanded that the Sindh government take strict legal action against mills paying low prices and slowing down crushing operations, and ensure implementation of a minimum sugar cane price of Rs600 per maund.
The chamber also revealed alarming data regarding wheat cultivation, stating that wheat sowing in the province had declined by 32 per cent due to flawed government policies, posing a serious threat to national food security.
It urged the government to fix the wheat support price at Rs5,000 per maund and immediately purchase at least 1.5 million tonnes of wheat directly from farmers to avert a potential food crisis.
The farmers also complained that despite the end of the water closure at the Sukkur Barrage on January 21, canals had not yet been opened.
They alleged that repair work on the Rohri and Nara canals was unsatisfactory and appealed to the provincial government to take immediate notice, ensure proper repairs and open the canals without further delay.
The SCA also expressed concern over the sharp decline in the prices of tomatoes and onions and demanded immediate government measures to facilitate their export.
It was also pointed out that Pakistan imported edible oil worth $4 billion annually, and to save precious foreign exchange, mustard cultivation in Sindh should be promoted. The growers demanded a minimum price of Rs10,000 per maund for mustard to encourage its large-scale cultivation.
Additionally, the SCA highlighted hardships being faced by date growers in Khairpur due to no date exports over the past four years. The chamber urged the government to immediately arrange date exports to prevent economic losses for farmers.
The meeting was attended by SCA General Secretary Zahid Hussain Bhurgri, Nabi Bakhsh Suthio, Advocate Fazal Qadir Memon, Advocate Taimoor Mehran, Sirajuddin Lashari, Mir Abdul Karim Talpur, Muhammad Khan Sarijo, Syed Altaf Hussain Shah, Rais Kamal Khan Noonari, Wafa Latif Jokhio and a large number of farmers from different parts of the province.
