Farmers’ leaders in Karachi have given the government 10 days to announce a sugarcane price of Rs650 per maund and open crushing, warning that growers will march on Islamabad if the deadline is missed.
Speaking at a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, office-bearers of the Sindh Abadgar Ittehad and Kisan Ittehad said mill owners use familiar delays at the start of every season to push growers off a fair rate. They said the same 10-day window covers both the support-price decision and the start of crushing.
What growers are asking for
Kisan Ittehad president Khalid Hussain Batth said the government has neither notified a sugarcane price nor set a crushing start date, leaving farmers unsure of their cash flow. Alongside the Rs650 per maund sugarcane demand, he called for a wheat support price of Rs4,500 per maund, arguing that wheat rates keep rising while officials stay silent.
Batth said Pakistan is an agricultural country yet households are paying Rs190 a kilogram for flour, and that the country lacks a working farm policy while inflation weighs on the public. He claimed a third shipment of imported wheat has arrived despite quality worries, and that prices have still not fallen. He urged the government to put growers first and begin crushing without further delay.
Crushing delay and unpaid cane
Sindh Abadgar Ittehad president Nawab Zubair Talpur said the crushing season should have opened on 1 November, but mills have still not started. He asked the government to order mill owners to crush cane at once and to guarantee a fair return to suppliers.
Talpur said farmers were never consulted on sugar exports and asked why surplus stocks of around one million tonnes are not being sold abroad. He alleged that the Sindh and Punjab governments are not serious about growers’ problems, and that payments for earlier sugarcane supplies remain outstanding.
He also pointed to water shortages that leave tail-end canals dry and damage crops, plus higher costs for DAP fertiliser and diesel that make farming harder each season.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 1 November: Crushing was due to begin, according to Sindh Abadgar Ittehad; mills had not started by the Karachi briefing.
- Wednesday: Sindh Abadgar Ittehad and Kisan Ittehad held a joint press conference and protest outside the Karachi Press Club, set a 10-day deadline for a Rs650 sugarcane price and crushing start, and warned of an Islamabad march.
- Thursday evening: The two groups said they would announce their next steps.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sindh ke kisan sarkar ko 10 din ka waqt de rahe hain ke ganne ki qeemat Rs650 mauund tay ki jaye aur crushing shuru ho. Agar yeh nahi hua to woh Islamabad march karne ki baat kar rahe hain. Un ka kehna hai mills abhi shuru nahi huin aur pehle ganne ki adaiyan bhi pending hain. Gharoon ke liye yeh zaroori hai kyunke cane aur gehun ki qeematon se aata aur cheeni ke bazaar pe asar parta hai.
