PESHAWAR: Amidst the housing boom, two major sugar mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have been closed permanently, while sugar mills in Mardan and Peshawar are facing shortage due to the unavailability of required amount of sugarcane.
The sugar mills in Khazana, Peshawar and Premier Sugar Mills in Mardan are not getting the required 400,000 tons of sugarcane per day. On the other hand, farmers said that they are facing financial loss due to the government stipulated rates, thus, they make gurh instead of supplying their crops to sugar mills.
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According to agronomists, large sugar mills need 400,000 tons per day in crushing season but farmers have stopped growing sugarcane due high cost and lack of resources. This is because most of the sugarcane production lands in Mardan and Charsadda have been devoured by unplanned housing societies while the remaining farmers are taking more interest in making gurr.
In the recent past, the Takht-e-Bhai and Charsadda Sugar Mills have been closed permanently because of this issue. Now there are two mills left in Peshawar valley in Mardan and Peshawar are also not getting the required quantity of sugarcane while the crisis are likely to intensify in the coming years.
According to Haji Marjan, a sugarcane farmer, the government has also imposed Rs5 per mand taxes. Marjan said that unlike the open market where per mand is not more than 40 kg, they sell 50kg per mand to the sugar mills. He said that despite the increase in the prices of basic commodities, the purchase rate of sugarcane has been reduced as a result most of the farmers have stopped sugarcane supply to mills. “They are giving preference to making gurr instead of giving their crop to sugar mills,” Marjan said.
Sugarcane is cultivated crop in Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera and Peshawar. Thousands of acres of sugarcane crop has been affected by flash floods and storms in these districts this season. Mill owners have also reduced rate of the commodity because of its “low quality”.
Yesterday, Defense Minister Pervez Khattak said that the only way to protect fertile agriculture land from unplanned housing boom is to allow construction of high-rise buildings in major cities. Addressing a news conference after inaugurating a new shopping mall in Peshawar, the minister said that the government is discussing the issue will all stakeholders, including the cantonment, boards, to allow the construction of high-rise buildings. The defense minister said, “Now there is no logic in banning high-rise structures as the construction societies are devouring our fertile land.”