Sindh sets sugarcane support price

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to fix the support price of sugarcane at Rs302 per maund, a statement said on Wednesday.

An official notification for the set price would be issued shortly, Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister for Agriculture, Manzoor Wassan informed.

The advisor apprised that sugar mills were running in different districts of Sindh, and the provincial government had decided to set the price of sugarcane at Rs302.

He said a procedure for giving Rs5,000 per acre to farmers for seeds had been devised, and committees would play their role in that regard.

Sindh has fixed the price of sugarcane higher than Punjab that fixed the rate at Rs300 per maund recently.

Mehmood Nawaz Shah, senior vice president of Sindh Abadgar Board, said the cost of per maund sugarcane reached Rs266 in 2022 and they should be given Rs55 profit per maund.

“Thus, the minimum price of sugarcane should have been fixed at Rs321 per maund,” he added.

Nisar Khaskheli, a grower from Khairpur, welcomed the price saying the government should have announced it a month earlier.

He stated that Sindh’s sugarcane contained a higher quantity of sucrose or sweetness and Rs2 per maund was given as a premium to Sindh’s farmers compared with rates in Punjab.

Last year, Sindh announced a support price of Rs250, compared to Punjab’s rate of Rs230 per maund.

Khaskheli said the sugarcane prices were at around Rs360 to Rs370, which would cross the rates of Rs400 after a month, and Rs450 in the peak season.