Farmers threaten to set sugar cane on fire, shut mills

Rejecting the support prices of Punjab Government the farmers of Southern Punjab threatened to set their sugar cane produce on fire and shut the sugar mills if Punjab Government did not fix the sugar cane support price at Rs 300 per maund.
President of Anjuman Kashtkaran Punjab Peerzada Abdul Ali Zakir Usmani, leaders of Anjuman Tahaffuz Haqooq Kashtkaran Ahmed Yar Khakwani, Liaquat Sanpal Advocate, Latif Khan and Nawab Farooq Khaqn Khakwani said sugar cane season begins from November 15 but the government of Punjab did not announce sugar cane support price which resulted delay in sugar cane crushing in the province besides increase in retail prices of sweetener in parts of Punjab. They said rates of petroleum products and farm inputs have increased 40 to 50 percent while sugar cane rates were not reviewed keeping in view the cost of production. They alleged that sugar mills' mafia developed a cartel and they are purchasing sugar cane at the lowest rate with deduction. They said farmers would prefer to burn their produce on being blackmailed at the hands of sugar mafia. They said that Sugar mafia has created artificial shortage of sugar in the market and it is fleecing the consumers. Now sugar is available at Rs 60 to 62 per kg in Punjab said farmers would not cultivate the wheat and they would not cut their sugar cane if Government did not redress their grievances. 

They said crushing season is being delayed deliberately to blackmail the growers. Sugar mills should have to start sugar cane crushing from October last to produce the sugar for fulfilling the domestic requirements as well as to export, said an official of National Sugar cane Co-ordinator. The millers are legally bound to start sugar cane crushing by the start of November and help the growers prepare their land for next sowing of wheat crop across the country. So far the millers have not started any activity for sugar cane crushing as both growers and millers are using delaying tactics to get better prices of their products.
There are 80 sugar mills across the country some of these plants are not functional where as other plants are producing sugar at their optimal level. The Punjab province has 46 sugar mills; Sindh has 26 mills whereas 8 sugar mills are operational in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to fulfil the domestic requirements in the country. A better sugar cane yield of over 62 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes sugar production was expected this year because of favourable weather conditions through out the crop season and commodity price in the country. 

Sugar cane output was recorded at 62.7 million tonnes and sugar production of 5 million tonnes during last year as against the domestic requirements of 4.2 million tonnes. Domestic per capita sugar consumption was decreased and average consumption was recorded at 21 kilograms sugar per annum. The government has also allowed to export the sugar and about 9,500 tonnes of commodity was exported so far and it was expected that 1.5 tonnes sugar export targets to be achieved. Punjab Sugar cane Commissioner said government of the province has directed the millers to start sugar cane crushing within official fixed time. He said 44 out of 46 mills are operational. The government is intending to allow around 500,000 tonnes of sugar in view of better stocks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2013

Crop biofortification

Written by Fahim Nawaz

A GROWTH rate of 1.2 per cent was estimated in the agriculture sector of the country during 2010-11 with a significant increase in staple food crops like wheat, maize and sugarcane.

These crops are grown to feed the country’s ever increasing population with little awareness about the hidden malnutrition. No real effort has been made to enrich crops with nutritional value required for improving human health.

Most farmers are illiterate and do not have knowledge about modern farming. This is a real challenge for the extension workers, breeders and researchers to create awareness among them. Farmers need to be encouraged to replace modern varieties periodically, as these lose their resistance to new evolving strains of disease.

In this respect, the role of plant breeders is very important and challenging. Plant breeding technology has great impact as breeding of micronutrient dense staple food crops can deliver most of the micronutrients. Micronutrient dense staple food crops can be introduced by using best traditional practices and biotechnology to achieve pro-vitamin A, zinc and iron concentrations.

Plant breeders can work with nutritionists to introduce high nutrient traits into agronomically superior varieties and to determine the quantity of a nutrient required in a crop to improve human nutrition. The loss of nutrients also occurs during harvesting, storage, processing, or cooking and these losses must be considered before determining breeding target levels.

International research organisations like Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research have been working in the country to evaluate the feasibility of using modern breeding techniques to develop micronutrient-enriched new varieties of staple crops.

Another international organisation Harvest Plus is working in collaboration with the scientists of Aga Khan University, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, to develop zinc-fed wheat crop. The scientists in these research organisations are working on the breeding strategy to incorporate high zinc and iron traits into wheat varieties resistant to new strains of yellow and stem rust but their efforts would not bear fruit until farmers realise the importance of bio-fortification of crops.

The enrichment of food crops with nutrients can also be achieved by adaptation of suitable agronomic practices. A recent research has shown that trace minerals also help plants to resist disease and biotic stresses. The survival of more seedlings will ensure rapid initial growth which ultimately results in higher yields particularly in trace mineral ‘deficient’ soils in arid regions.

This suggests the dual benefit of enrichment of crops with nutrients.

The extension workers can play a pivotal role in introducing new technology among farming communities. The best agronomic practices would help preserve and enhance nutrient balance of micronutrient dense seeds. In fact, biofortification would help increase farm productivity in an environmentally-beneficial way.

It is time that agriculture and nutrition disciplines collaborate to improve human nutrition. A multidisciplinary research team of scientists from different disciplines should be made to work in this direction.

Plant breeders should be encouraged to include micronutrients in their breeding portfolios along with higher yield, disease resistance and other agronomic traits. Public health officials must understand the importance of micronutrients consumption in food and help end micronutrient malnutrition.

The biofortification of crops would get support among farmers, research scientists, health professionals, and policymakers, once it is proven a viable, cost-efficient and effective solution for combating micronutrient malnutrition.

Courtesy: Dawn

Exploitation of Sugarcane growers

Over the past few weeks, sugarcane growers in Sindh have become desperate. In the past, the sugarcane crushing season began in November but unfortunately, in recent years, mill owners of 36 sugar mills in the province — a major ratio of these owners in the corridors of power — are using delaying tactics, exploiting the inflation and disaster-hit growers and also trying to ravage the agricultural economy of the province with their devilish design to invest less and earn exorbitant profits.

The sugarcane commissioner and other relevant authorities seem to be in a deep slumber and there is no one to take notice of this anti-economic behaviour of the sugar mill owners. It is high time that the provincial government took some concrete steps to protect sugarcane growers. Is there anyone in power who could come forward and protect the growers from the exploitation of the mill-owners?

I am confident that if the growers and workers are protected from exploitation at the hands of mill owners, given enhanced rates and ensured timely payments, it would have a positive impact on the agriculture sector of Sindh. If this does not happen, Sindh’s rural economy will undergo massive damage because the growers will not have the resources to purchase agricultural inputs, which will in turn lead to food insecurity and inflation.

Hashim Abro

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.