Sindh growers set 10-day deadline on sugarcane price
Farmers want Rs650 a maund for cane and Rs4,500 for wheat, and say mills have still not begun crushing due to start on 1 November.
KARACHI: Growers from the Sindh Abadgar Ittehad and Kisan Ittehad have given the government 10 days to notify a sugarcane support price of Rs650 per maund and start the crushing season, warning they will march on Islamabad if the demands are not met.
The deadline was announced at a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. The two organisations then staged a protest outside the club and said their future course of action would be announced on Thursday evening.
Kisan Ittehad president Khalid Hussain Batth said the government has issued no notification fixing the sugarcane price and has named no date for crushing to begin, leaving growers uncertain at the start of the season. The organisations also demanded a wheat support price of Rs4,500 per maund.
Batth said wheat prices were continuing to rise while the authorities took no action, and that flour was being sold at Rs190 a kilogram. He said a third shipment of imported wheat had arrived despite concerns about its quality, and prices had still not come down. Pakistan is an agricultural country, he said, but it lacks an effective agricultural policy.
Sindh Abadgar Ittehad president Nawab Zubair Talpur said the crushing season should have opened on 1 November, but sugar mills had not started operations. He asked the government to direct mill owners to begin crushing immediately and to ensure growers receive a fair price, adding that farmers had still not been paid for cane they had already supplied.
Talpur said growers had never been consulted on sugar exports and asked why the government was not exporting when about 1 million tonnes of surplus stock was held in the country. He alleged that the Sindh and Punjab governments were not serious about resolving farmers' problems.
He said water was not reaching the tail-end of the irrigation system and the shortage had badly damaged crops, while higher prices of DAP fertiliser and diesel had pushed up the cost of production.
Profit by Pakistan Today and Investify reported the same demand under the headline that Sindh growers would protest on 4 November.
How the reports differ
Business Recorder carried the demands with the names of both organisation presidents, the wheat price figure and the list of grievances. Profit by Pakistan Today and Investify ran the same headline saying Sindh growers would protest on November 4, presenting the press conference as notice of a protest rather than a 10-day deadline. ChiniMandi led on farmers urging the Punjab government to start crushing immediately, a framing the Karachi press conference did not use, where the demands were put to the federal and Sindh governments.
Cotton arrivals rise 6.88pc to 4.74m bales by Oct 31
Ginners' forum chairman Ihsanul Haq says no fortnight in the September-October peak crossed one million bales for a second year running.
Maryam Nawaz unveils ten-point package for Punjab farmers
Zero-markup loans up to Rs10 million, a dedicated Apna Kisan Bank and assured wheat procurement at Rs4,500 head the announcements made to farmer representatives.
UN food agency calls Sindh water management complicated, urges resource audit
The FAO report asks Sindh to account for rainfall, groundwater, canal diversions, lakes and reservoirs, and says the province's Crop Reporting Service needs improvement.
Boy from Jhal Magsi dies of rabies at Karachi's JPMC
Hospital sources said he was bitten about a month before his death, was admitted on November 1, and did not receive rabies immunoglobulin.
Sindh medical universities flag 53 marks sheets in MBBS admissions
LUMHS Jamshoro reported 43 suspect sheets and JSMU Karachi seven, a breakdown that adds to 50 against the report's stated total of 53.
FBR chairman says government plans to phase out super tax
Rashid Mahmood Langrial told Korangi industrialists the rate has already been cut by two percentage points, and announced an FBR office at KATI.
Sindh to reopen Red Line BRT U-turn on Karachi's University Road
Sharjeel Inam Memon chaired a transport department meeting that also reviewed routes for Karachi's newly arrived double-decker and electric buses.
Police detain 30 teachers as Karachi march nears CM House
The All Sindh Primary Teachers Association wants transfers and postings powers handed to district officers, and hundreds marched from the Karachi Press Club.