Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, SCA general secretary Akhund Ghulam Muhammad Siddiqui, vice president Kazi Abdul Majid, treasurer Muhammad Khan Sarejo and Mir Imdad Talpur said if the stalemate continues it would cause financial loss of billions of rupees not only to growers but also to the national economy.
They said that by first week of October the crop of sugarcane was ready for harvest, but the mill owners deliberately started their mills at the end of November, only to cause financial loss to growers, so that they could not sow wheat.
They demanded that as the sugar mill owners were bent not to offer more than Rs 60 per 40 kgs, the growers had also refused to supply sugarcane to mills at the rate less than Rs 70 per 40 kgs. They said because of late start of sugar mills and now crisis of sugarcane price, the growers could neither pay their bank loans nor cultivate wheat crop in time.
They warned that if the mill owners continued stubbornness, the growers could go for protest like journalists and lawyers. They said that the growers may not sow sugarcane crop from next season and opt for other crops.
They also complained that agriculture banks have refused to oblige the notification of federal government to provide remission of Rs 200,000 to growers of Badin district due to floods and cyclones and were recovering full loans forcibly.