Fixed price of sugarcane rejected

AMJAD ALI SHAH

PESHAWAR: Convener National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti MNA, has outright rejected the fixed price of sugarcane and termed it as economic murder of the poor growers.

Talking to a delegation of sugarcane growers here on Wednesday, he said that sugarcane price was fixed at Rs150 per maund against the Rs337 per mand last year, which was a sheer injustice with the poor growers.

Rejecting the fixed price of sugarcane for the coming season he said the prices of agriculture inputs including urea, fertilizer, pesticides and others besides power tariff have increased manifold. Despite this, the sugarcane price was fixed very low this year as compared to last year, which is totally illogical, he argued.

He said the growers were beset by the soaring prices of fertilizers, urea and power tariff, whereas the natural disasters also caused them huge losses. He expressed sympathy with the growers and vowed that he would raise voice at every forum for their genuine and legitimate demands.

Hoti said that agriculture was a backbone role of country economy, therefore, the government should stop exploitation of growers and provide maximum incentives and relief to them.

He also demanded of the government to decrease the prices of agriculture inputs.