Sindh Abadgar board demands fair price as factories pay Rs 400 instead of Rs 544 for 40 kg
HYDERABAD:
As farmers’ protests intensify across the province, the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has warned the provincial government against “injustice” towards sugarcane farmers, urging it to maintain its own assessment of a fair support price.
In a meeting chaired by Mehmood Nawaz Shah on Sunday, the SAB reminded the government that its calculations put the cost of production at Rs 544 per 40 kg, but farmers are paid only Rs 400, well below last year’s rate of Rs 425.
The SAB regretted that influential political families controlling the country’s 75 sugar mills were exploiting the prevailing political environment by delaying the crushing season until December, in violation of the Sugar Factories Control Act of 1950, which mandates an October start.
This delay, the SAB said, not only reduces the sucrose content in cane but also cripples Rabi cultivation, causing financial losses of tens of billions of rupees to the agricultural economy.
The board criticized the provincial government for “ignoring its regulatory responsibility” and not implementing the law in 2024, attributing this setback to IMF-related limitations.
Despite rising prices for sugar and its by-products, producers continue to be denied their fair share, the meeting said, warning that a flawed policy is already hurting other crops as input costs soar while raw material prices fall.
The meeting was attended by SAB officials and farmers’ representatives including Malook Nizamani, Imran Bozdar, Mohammed Aslam Mari, Taha Memon, Arbab Ahsan and Mustafa Nawaz Shah.
