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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 7th, 2012.
