ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture decided to form a sub committee to consider whether to ban gur exports and lifting restrictions imposed on the supply of gur to tribal areas.
Javed Iqbal Warriach chaired the meeting of the committee. Some members were in favour of a ban on gur exports while few members voiced dissent, fearing it would escalate local gur prices in Khyber Phaktunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan and tribal areas.
Briefing the committee, Ministry of Food and Agriculture Development Commission (MINFA) Representative Enayat Ullah Khan indicated that KPK contributed roughly 10 percent of the country’s total sugarcane output of 55 million tonnes.
Out of the province’s yield of 5.5 million tonnes, 20 percent was stored as seed for next year’s crop, leaving 4.4 million tones for sugar and gur production. For gur processing, two million tonnes of provincial produce was utilised with recovery of 14 percent. Final output was estimated to stand at 280,000 tonnes.
KPK, he added, utilised 60 percent of the output and 30 percent was committed to Balochistan and only 10 percent found its way to Afghanistan. The utilisation of gur reduced pressure on sugar consumption in KPK and Balochistan, he opined.
Commerce Ministry Representative Dr Safdar Sohail indicated that last year only 4,000 tonnes of gur exports to Afghanistan were recorded and such low quantity simply did not justify banning exports. However, Customs Member Munir Qureshi demanded a gur export ban similar to the one in place on sugar.
The body decided that the sub committee would also look into the capabilities of the Ministry of Interior and whether it could effectively enforce a ban on the movement of gur from settled areas to tribal areas.
