Sindh growers seek Rs525 sugarcane, Rs4,500 wheat support prices

The Sindh Abadgar Board wants growers to receive Rs525 for every 40kg of sugarcane and Rs4,500 for each 40kg of wheat, pointing to dearer farm inputs and soft produce rates that leave farmers struggling to stay viable. Profit by Pakistan Today reported that the request came at the board's general council session in Hyderabad on Saturday, which was chaired by SAB Chairman Mahmood Nawaz Shah.

The board blamed the government for policy drift and weak farm planning over the past two years, contending that deregulating wheat and sugarcane markets has damaged growers while state controls over imports and exports remain. It put farmer losses at thousands of billions of rupees across two and a half years, a period in which support prices were either withheld or set too low. Commodity rates have fallen or stalled despite inflation of around 29%, it said, while input costs kept rising.

According to the SAB, provincial subsidies intended for about 350,000 small Sindh growers are reaching less than 15% of them, while cash-rich middlemen buy cheaply from farmers and sell at higher prices. Over the longer term the board wants competitive markets with freer trade, plus firm action against collusion, price-fixing and manipulation, and it called the Competition Commission of Pakistan ineffective. Until such conditions exist, it says full deregulation is neither workable nor helpful for farmers or consumers, so support prices should continue.