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Pakistan Print 2020-05-29

PKI, APKF want money 'extorted by sugar mafia' given back to farmers

The Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and the All Pakistan Kissan Foundation welcomed the commission's report on sugar industry and urged the government to take stern action against the culprits who were taking benefit from both sides in the name of farmers.
Published 29 May, 2020 12:05am

The Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and the All Pakistan Kissan Foundation welcomed the commission's report on sugar industry and urged the government to take stern action against the culprits who were taking benefit from both sides in the name of farmers.
Both the organizations also urged the government to remove the sugar mills illegally installed in cotton areas and restore the cotton belt as per crop zones. "Remove the illegal enhanced capacity of sugar mills and return them to original and approved capacity. The amount paid less to sugarcane growers in 2017-18 and proved by the commission report may be recovered from the identified mills and returned to sugarcane growers, immediately. Payback the losses to end-user caused due to price hike of sugar and proved by the commission without any delay as the same has to be recovered from the sugar industry."
PKI President Khalid Mahmood Khokhar and All Pakistan Kissan Foundation Chairman Syed Mehmood ul Haq Bokhari while addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club (LPC) here on Thursday said that the commission's report reveals that the sugar recovery goes up to 13 percent in the season whereas the industry never paid the price according to recovery which is an unfair deal with farmers and we demand the mills must be bound to pay sugarcane price according to sugar recovery.
The sugarcane prices paid to farmers in 2017-18 are far less than the documents of the mills showing, as that was paid to middle man, not to farmer. A farmer was getting Rs 120 to 130 per 40kg of sugarcane, with a 5-10 percent reduction in weight in the name of unclean cane and trash, so the actual price a farmer had received in 2017-18 would be Rs 90-100 per 40 kg. In 2017-18 sugar mills paid Rs 130 billion less than indicative price to sugarcane growers. In the PM agriculture emergency program, sugarcane was included despite the fact this crop had no productivity issue, rather we were producing surplus sugar and exporting with a subsidy from the taxpayers' money. Whereas cotton stake and contribution of 60 percent of foreign exchange was not included, because the architecture of the program has stakes in sugar.
Sugarcane has taken away the area under cotton because sugar is protected by 40 percent import duty and sugarcane has an indicative price, whereas the sugar and textile industry resisted fixing the intervention price of cotton.
They said almost all sugar mills enhanced their crushing capacity 2-3 times without any approval and legal authority. Sugar mills erect their extensions in different districts and even in different provinces to deceive that it is not a new mill rather an extension of an existing unit. Al Moez Sugar Mills Layeh (Punjab) has its extension in Dera Ismail Khan (KPK); Similarly, Tandlian Wala Sugar Mills (Punjab) has its extension in Dera Ismail Khan (KPK). All this resulted in a substantial increase in sugar prices but the industry sought subsidy in the name of farmers. Sugar prices are rising every month affecting the end-user. Every time an increase of a rupee leads sugar mills to pocket Rs 5.2 billion and causes loss to end consumers. One can imagine the increase in sugar prices has never been Rs 5-10, which would have resulted to fetch an illegal profit of Rs 30-50 billion overnight, they added.
The PKI and the APKF urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to immediately remove the 40 percent duty on sugar so that 220 million people could get sugar at an international price. Many sugar mills have not paid sugarcane payment for the current year which may be expedited/ recovered. The support price of sugarcane, cotton, rice, potato, pulses, and oilseed may be announced so that country could be self-sufficient in these commodities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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