|
Punjab farmers unhappy over cane
prices
By Nasir Jamal
THE government has finally given in to the pressure of the
powerful lobby of sugar millers, who are heavily represented
in the Parliament as well as in the federal cabinet and
conceded most of the demands, the industry had put forward
as a pre-condition for starting cane crushing.
 While
accepting the industry’s demands, the government has itself
violated the Cane Act by allowing the millers to delay the
start of crushing by two weeks, and by making certain
decisions that would ultimately prove detrimental to the
interests of sugar cane farmers in Punjab, if not in the
other two provinces – Sindh and the NWFP.
Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock (MINFAL) secretary
Ismael Qureishi claims that the decisions had been taken
with a view to protect the interests of sugar cane growers
and consumers and to address the legitimate concerns of the
industry.
The growers in Punjab are not ready to buy his argument,
saying the decisions will favour the millers at the expense
of the farmers of the province that produces about 70 per
cent of the total sugar cane crop.
They insist that two decisions , which let the mills to
delay crushing by at least two weeks and fix the support
price of sugar cane at Rs60 per maund (or 40kg) in Punjab as
compared to Rs67 in Sindh and Rs65 in the NWFP, will allow
the millers to make windfall profits without doing anything,
at the expense of the poor growers.
The support price of sugar cane is linked with the
percentage of sucrose recovery. Since average sucrose
recovery of around 9.10 per cent in Sindh is highest, its
growers always get a premium for their crop. With the
average content recovery standing at 8-8.5 per cent in
Punjab, and 7.3 per cent in the NWFP, farmers from these two
provinces get a lower rate for their crop.
Historically, the sugar cane growers from Punjab and the
NWFP get the same support price or the minimum indicative
rate for their crops, in spite of the differential of
0.7-1.2 per cent in the percentage of content recovery. This
time round, however, farmers of the NWFP are set to get a
far better price for their crop despite lower content
recovery than their counterparts in Punjab.
“If the support price is linked with the content recovery,
Punjabi growers should have gotten a better deal than
farmers of the NWFP,” says AgriForum chairman Ibrahim
Mughal.
“Since this has not been done, we are forced to suspect that
somebody, somewhere in the power corridors has managed to
manipulate the government decisions for the benefit of the
mill owners and deprived the growers from Punjab of a fair
rate for their produce.
It is an open secret that the sugar millers have a strong
representation in the government, and enjoy a status that
lets them influence the government policies and decisions.
And they have finally prevailed,” he insists.
About 70 per cent – or 35 million tons – of total national
sugar cane crop of around 50 million tons is produced by
Punjab on 1.775 million acres of land. The rest of the crop
is produced by Sindh (about one million ton from 500,000
acres) and the NWFP (about half a million tons from 265,000
acres).
Some 80 per cent of the crop is consumed by the sugar mills
for making the sweetener and the rest of 20 per cent is used
as seed for the next crop as well as for making gur or is
used as fodder.
“If we go by the statistics, and if we consider that the
content recovery rate in Punjab and the NWFP is same, the
Punjabi farmers stand to lose close to Rs3.50 billion just
because they will be getting Rs5 per maund less than the
growers from the NWFP. Who stands to gain from this?
Obviously, the 40 powerful sugar mill owners from Punjab
will divide this amount between themselves without doing
anything. The amount that should have come to farmers of
Punjab will now be going to the millers.
And if we link the crop’s support price with the content
recovery, we should have received a higher price for our
crop than farmers of the NWFP. That simply means that
growers from the province are being doubly squeezed by the
millers,” Mughal points out.
Moreover, he says, the growers from Rahim Yar Khan, the
district bordering Sindh, are given an even worse deal. The
sucrose content recovery in the sugar cane crop from Rahim
Yar Khan is almost the same as in Sindh because of similar
climatic conditions.
However, they shall get paid the price equal to those
growers from the areas where the recovery rate is lower.
“That will be an additional benefit for the mills in the
district of Rahim Yar Khan,” he says. “So much for the
government claims that it has protected the interests of
farmers.”
Mughal fears that the lower support price will impact upon
the farmers’ decision to grow sugar cane next year. “I
seriously fear that the cane crop next year is going to be
far less than this year if the growers do not get a fair
price for their produce based on the sucrose recovery rate,”
he says.
The government has just indicated the period, without fixing
any specific dates, during which it expects the mills to
begin their operations. There is no guarantee that the mills
will not stretch the ‘grace’ period allowed to them by the
government to three weeks or more, from two weeks.
He says the sugar millers in Punjab will not only make money
by paying less to the farmers but also from delayed
commencement of crushing. “The mills always tend to delay
crushing because sucrose content recovery increases by 0.5
per cent every month. They wanted to delay crushing not
because they have unsold stocks, but because they want
higher sucrose recovery and that too without paying an
additional amount to the farmers.”
The delay in cane crushing by the mills is feared to delay
sowing of wheat on 200,000 acres of land in Punjab, causing
a loss of Rs500 million to farmers in the form of lower
yields.
“The dates for starting cane crushing in Punjab, Sindh and
the NWFP given in the Cane Act were determined with a view
to give sufficient time to farmers for timely sowing of
wheat. The delay in the commencement of sugar harvest means
that wheat sowing, and as a consequence of this its yield,
is going to suffer,” he says.
Will somebody stand up and take the responsibility for
goofing up everything for the farmers from Punjab?
Certainly, no one!
Courtesy: The DAWN
|
Pakissan.com;
|
