Sugar Cane is one of the cash crops for the agriculture growers of Sindh and Punjab province in particular and KPK in general.
Sugarcane production has seen the most rapid growth over all other crops recently with 7.6% growth in 2016-17 due to increase in cultivation area as per economic survey of Pakistan.
However, farmers hope for stable cane rate and government support for timely disposal of their commodity as per sugarcane act and other laws of the land soon disappeared in Sindh when Sindh government sided with mill owners, delaying crushing season and not issuing price notification.
It is pertinent to highlight that Sindh's sugarcane has 5-7% more sugar content due to moist and humid climate beside early harvest. Therefore, the rate per maud in Sindh traditionally remain a few rupees higher than other provinces.
On the other side, 19 out of 34 sugar mills installed in Sindh are owned by Asif Ali Zardari indirectly under the shadow company named Omni group. The notorious company managed by Mr. Anwar Majeed ruined the balance of agro-economy in Sindh by using overt and covert tactics to increase profitability at the expense of small and medium growers. It caused recent fuss regarding the start of crushing season and rate per maud despite the fact that Punjab has already announced Rs 182/ maud rate for sugarcane.
It is also important to highlight that cane cost and profitability formula only take into account sugar product for setting rates for mill owners and excludes other valuable by-products such as ethanol, bagass, molasses and etc.
In short, a mill owner can achieve breakeven within a year 1 or year and a half, whereas, it takes 8 to 12 years for a grower to achieve breakeven for one-acre piece of land.
This injustice will not only erode PPP political strength from Sindh but also increase income inequality and uneven distribution of wealth, thereby increase socio-economic problems at the provincial level. Because grower lives here and utilized money within the economy and make it move, whereas, mill owners take money out of the rural economy and even out of the country.
It is imperative for federal government and judicial authorities to interfere in the matter before it is too late.