Murad to consider demands of sugarcane growers

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that his government is making all out efforts to protect the interests of the growers and with this view he wants a workable solution to end the deadlock between the sugarcane growers and mill owners on the issue of the price.
He expressed these views at a meeting with the sugarcane growers at the CM House, here on Friday. The meeting was attended by Minister for Agriculture and Home Sohail Anwar Siyal, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, Secretary Agriculture Sajid Jamal Abro, DG Agriculture Extension Hidayatullah Chhajjro, Noor Mohammad Baloch, DG Agricultural Research, Agha Zahiruddin, Cane Commissioner and the growers viz. Syed Nadeem Shah, Mohammad Nawaz Shah, Qabool Mohammad Khatian, Zahid Bhurgri, Nabi Bux Sathio, Nawab Zubair Talpur, Sharif Nizamani and Khalid Masood.
The chief minister said he and his party always worked with grower to get them better prices of their crops. He cited that they always protected growers' interests and rights. He said that the sugar mills' owners were of the view that they could not begin crushing because they had surplus stock of sugar for last year in their godowns.
Hence, Shah said he talked to the Prime Minister and took up the issue at the CCI also. He said the CCI approved a subsidy of Rs 10.70/kg for sugar export. Then, he called a provincial cabinet meeting which also approved additional subsidy of Rs 9.30/kg for sugar export and then the millers began crushing.
"The crushing has started with my constant and untiring struggle," Murad Shah said. The Cane Commissioner told the chief minister that there were 38 sugar mills in the province; of them six were not going to operate this year and 32 had started crushing. "They are purchasing sugarcane and growers are giving them cane at Rs 130 to RS 140, the price varies from district to district," he said.
The growers complained that the Rs 130 to Rs 140 price didn't suit them. They said that their expenditures on the cultivation on every 40-kg sugarcane cost them Rs 70 and the harvesting, transportation from field to the mill and wastage also cost them another Rs 40/45 kg. Hence, they have to sell their crop either at loss or at no profit despite disbursing huge amount on the sugarcane cultivation. They threatened that the cultivation of sugarcane would decline next year and then it would come to zero because they had decided to switch to other crops.
The growers accepted that some political parties were trying to capitalize on their protests. They made clear they had no political agenda but they were simply struggling for due rights of small, medium and big growers so that they could get fair price of their crop. They also admitted that the protest and sit-in outside the houses of the party leaders and others were not an appropriate option, ethically. The chief minister appreciated them for their clear and candid views.
The growers said that this year, sugarcane had been cultivated over an area of 700,000 acres and production would be around 420 tons. They suggested the chief minister announce a subsidy of Rs 12/40 kg for growers and asked the millers to pay Rs 170 per 40 kg to the growers. On this the chief minister said that he would consider their proposal if they show some flexibility on the price of the cane.
"We want to end this deadlock at any cost," he said, adding that the financial position of his provincial government was not so strong that it could grant huge subsidies but he assured: "Anyhow, we will sit together with growers again after working out some proposals.