ACCORDING to press reports, after keeping the sugarcane price unchanged for two years, the Punjab government has added Rs10 per 40kg, taking the total to Rs180 per 40kg for 2014-15 sugarcane crushing season.

Since the government has been keeping the price same for the last two years, farmers were hoping for a substantial raise, especially with the escalating cost of production.

It merits a mention that in India, the government subsidises inputs rather that outputs to reap benefits. Pakistan also needs to subsidise seeds, fertilisers and energy to farmers to keep profit margins attractive and check on industry formanufacturing cheap outputs with low priced inputs.

It is worth mentioning that the support price of sugarcane has remained a bone of contention between the sugar mills and the farmers for years. The resultant sugarcane shortage owing to confrontation between sugar mills and the farmers has badly affected consumers and the industries.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is, therefore, requested to follow suit and fix support price for coming sugarcane crushing seasons (2014-15) on the pattern of Punjab and keeping in view increase in cost of production of the crop at an early date.

However, the government has to have a reasonable profit margin with both the farmer and the industry in order to sustain the sugarcane crop, and will try to keep sugar within the reach of the common consumer.

It is, therefore, high time the minimum support price for sugarcane 2014-15 season is fixed and arrangements are also made for commencement of sugarcane crushing season.

Khan Faraz Peshawar