Punjab government has fixed sugar production target of 2.7 million tonnes for the current year. Provincial Food Secretary Irfan Ali has disclosed that some 20 million tonnes of sugarcane has already been crushed that has produced around 1.8 million tonnes of sugar till February 10. In a press statement issued here on Wednesday, Punjab food secretary said it had been estimated that the province would produce some 30 million tonnes of sugarcane.
He pointed out a total of 44 sugar mills are operating in the province that had the capacity to crush 0.330 million tonnes of sugarcane daily. He added all sugar mills would remain operational at their full capacity till March 31. Also, all sugar mills were bound by law to clear sugarcane payments of farmers within 15 days. So far, sugar mills had made 83 per cent payments to farmers against sugarcane procurement. Speaking about the sugarcane cess, Irfan Ali said Punjab government was getting Rs5 per 100 kg of sugarcane for farmers and sugar mills on account of Sugarcane Cess Development Fund. He pointed out Rs770 and Rs11.2 billion were collected under this account in fiscal year 2009-10 and 2010-11, respectively. Whereas, Rs900 million had been collected in this account during the current year till end of January. This amount was used for sugarcane research and road infrastructure.
