Pakistan: Sindh growers seek Rs525 sugarcane, Rs4,500 wheat support prices
The Sindh Abadgar Board has demanded support prices of Rs525 per 40kg for sugarcane and Rs4,500 per 40kg for wheat, citing rising input costs, stagnant commodity prices and widening farmer losses. It criticised weak agricultural policies, limited subsidies and market controls, urging regulated competitive markets and continued support prices until reforms are established.
The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has demanded support prices of Rs525 per 40kg for sugarcane and Rs4,500 per 40kg for wheat, saying rising input costs and weak commodity prices have created a serious viability gap for farmers.
The demand was made at the board’s general council meeting in Hyderabad on Saturday, chaired by SAB Chairman Mahmood Nawaz Shah.
The board criticised what it termed the government’s policy drift and poor agricultural planning over the past two years, arguing that the existing approach to deregulating wheat and sugarcane markets had hurt growers.
It claimed farmers had suffered losses running into thousands of billions of rupees over the past two-and-a-half years as the government either did not announce support prices or set them too low, while retaining controls over imports and exports.
According to the SAB, this has left farmers and consumers increasingly dependent on cash-rich middlemen and processors.
The board said agricultural commodity prices had either declined or remained stagnant despite a period of inflation of around 29%, while farming input costs had continued to increase.
This had widened the viability gap in agriculture, limiting growers’ ability to invest and putting particular pressure on small and medium-sized farmers, it added.
The SAB also claimed that provincial subsidies for a single crop, intended for around 350,000 small growers in Sindh, were reaching less than 15% of the province’s small farmers.
It argued that financially stronger middlemen were able to purchase commodities from farmers at depressed prices and subsequently sell them at higher rates.
For the longer term, the board called for competitive agricultural markets with freer imports and exports alongside effective regulation against collusion, price-fixing and market manipulation.
It criticised the Competition Commission of Pakistan for what it described as ineffective regulation, saying farmers would remain the weaker part of the value chain without stronger market oversight and greater access to export markets.
Until such competitive markets and regulatory mechanisms are established, the SAB said complete deregulation was neither practicable nor beneficial for farmers and consumers, and called for support prices to continue as an immediate measure.
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Source : Profit Pakistan Today
