Cane farmers burning crops due to low price
LAHORE: Low price and delay in buying process have perturbed sugarcane producers as the millers are not ready to start the process before late December or early January.
Though sugar mills started crushing season on the pressure of the provincial government and because they are bound to crush all cane produced by the growers as per the law, the buying process has still not started, forcing small farmers to sell their produce to big growers or middlemen at throwaway prices.
Ghulam Mustafa, a sugarcane grower in Muzaffargarh said he is worried about his crop. “I have sent three tractor-trolleys of sugarcane to Fatima Sugar Mills in Sanawan but they are still there and the sugar mill has not opened doors for buying.”
There are reports that the mill has been closed in protest against the government decision to purchase sugarcane at the rate of Rs 180 per 40kg.
Mustafa lamented that he has been left in a lurch as he is unable to sell his crop. According to him, the government had bound cane commissioners and assistant commissioners to be present at sugar mills to assist farmers but no one is there to help him.
Qari Junaid, another small grower said the sugarcane farmers are facing the worst possible scenario as there is no one to buy their crops. “All three sugar mills-Fatima Sugar Mills, Sheikho Sugar Mill and Tandlawala have been closed and they have refused to buy sugarcane at Rs 180 per 40 kg.
“We cut our crop because the wheat crop needs to be sown. The sugarcane is losing weight day by day. The middle men and brokers who are actually agents of sugar mills mafia are forcing farmers to sell the product at rate as low as Rs 120 per 40 kg. We have been left in the lurch but no one in the government is ready to listen our problems.”
“Time is not far when sugarcane farmers will be committing suicides because they are not getting actual price of expenditure on the crop,” Qari said.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that sugarcane growers are burning their crops due to the low price but the government is not paying heed to their issue.
