Sugarcane is an important cash
crop of Pakistan. It is an important source of income and employment for the
farming community throughout the year. It forms the basis for many important
industries like Gur, molasses, alcohol, sugar beverages, chipboard, paper,
confectionery and provides raw materials to mainly other industries such as
chemicals, plastics, paints, synthetics, fiber, insecticides, detergents etc.
Among the 105 countries of the world growing sugarcane, Pakistan ranks 4th in
area, 14th in production and 16th in yield. Although, Pakistan happens to be the
world's fourth largest grower of sugarcane it has perhaps the lowest yield in
the world. The average sugarcane yields in Pakistan have remained between
40-54tons per hectare which is considerably less than those obtained in many
other countries. Average yield of sugarcane in the world is around: 65 metric
tons per hectare and Asia 65.4 while China 77.1, India 70.6, Pakistan 46.0,
Philippines 92.6, Thailand 92.6, Australia 75.5 and Egypt 105 tons per hectare.
The sugar recovery is 8.5 % against the obtainable recovery of 10.5%. Pakistan
has all the resources to produce high yield of sugarcane, yet it could neither
produce sugar for export in the international market on a competitive rate nor
could it get rid of import to meet the local demand.
Sugarcane production:
Sugarcane production in the country has increased over times; however, this
increase has mainly resulted from an expansion in area, whereas yields have been
increased only very slightly. In 1992-93, the area under sugarcane was 885
thousand ha. This increased to over 907 thousand ha. In 2005-06, and sugarcane
production has increased from 38059 thousand in 1992-93 to 48873 thousand tons
in 2005-06. It shows that despite expansion in production over years, increase
in the productivity per unit area has been very low in Pakistan.
The contribution of the Punjab in the total cane production is around 60
percent, Sindh about 30 percent and NWFP 10 percent. There are 85 sugar mills in
Pakistan, numbering 45 in Punjab, 34 in Sindh and 9 in kpk. The total area of
sugarcane (000ha.) is 625, 183, 98 and 0.30 hectares in Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and
Balochistan with production (000 tons) of 28968, 11243, 4439 and 14,
respectively. Thus the yield in tons per hectare is 46, 61, 45, 48 in the
provinces.
The Punjab produces 61, Sindh 29, NWFP 10 percents of sugar. In the Punjab and
NWFP about 90 percent of the crop is planted in spring and only about 10% in the
autumn while in Sindh 70% is planted in autumn and about 30% in spring. In the
Punjab and NWFP the growing period is only 8-10 months while in Sindh it goes
from 12 to 14 months. The harvesting of the crop starts in the beginning of
November in the Punjab and NWFP while in Sindh the crop is ready in the month of
October. In Sindh due to long growing period, the yield and recovery is better
than in the Punjab and NWFP. Sugarcane is a high delta crop and requires 64to 66
acre inches of water in Sindh and about 64 acre inches water in the Punjab.
Water is considered to be one of the crucial factors affecting the production
and productivity of sugar crop in the country.
Sugar recovery
The average sugar recovery of Pakistan ranges between 8 to 9% as compared to
developed and neighboring countries where average recovery rate is over 10%. The
recovery data of last fifteen years shows that there is minute improvement in
recovery rate. In 1990-91 it was round 8.44% and in the year 2004-05 it was
about 9.1%, whereas in between these years the rate was continuously
fluctuating. Sindh has average recovery of 9.42% as compared to Punjab and NWFP
at 8.26 and 8.34%, respectively. The controllable factors for high recovery
include area under cultivation, production methods, farm inputs sowing high
yielding varieties.
Sugar Consumption
Sugar consumption in Pakistan has been showing an increasing trend for the last
15 years. It has increased from 2.89 million tons in 1995-96 to 3.95 million
tons in 2005-06. One of the many reasons behind this increase is rise in the
total population of the country, which has reached to a figure of 170 millions.
The per capita sugar consumption data shows that it has also risen from 22.2 kg
in 1995 to 25.8 kg in 2004-05. For 2006-07, the overall sugar consumption is
forecast at 4 million tons.
Pakistanis is the biggest consumers of sugar in South Asia with 24 kg per capita
consumption per year, whereas in India it is 14 kg, Bangladesh 10 kg and China
11 kg.
Performance of Sugar Industry: Performance of sugar industry in terms of
profitability was remarkable during 2004-05.
Current sugar Crisis: The current level of sugar prices in the country has not
only affected the common person but also forced the Government to revise the
progress of sugar industry to control the price hikes. It increased in October
2004 from 20.78 to Rs.42 in February 2006 and badly affected the life of common
man. Current sugar shortage is being met by the import of sugar from outside the
country, which comes to Rs.26 presently. Pakistan despite an agrarian country is
not self sufficient in sugar production for the domestic requirement
Causative Factors:
Demand supply gap, increase in population, increase in per capita consumption,
low sugarcane and sugar production, high sugar prices in the international
markets.
Sugar Industry
Sugar industry in Pakistan with a strong production base with 85 mills having an
installed production capacity of 4.867 million tons has always been suffered of
capacity utilization. These mills require about 65 million tons of sugarcane to
run on full capacity. The sugar production capacity of these mills is above five
million tons of sugar. However, sugar production is about only three million
tons on an average. Thus growing sugarcane production presents a challenge. It
takes about 4-5 days after the harvesting of sugarcane crop to off-load the
trolleys at mill gate. This leads not only to reduction in weight by about 2%
but also affects recovery of sugar by 0.1% each day. Pakistan also loses about
5% of the sugar in producing bold crystal sugar to meet the consumer demand.
Mill inefficiency in juice extraction is also one reason for low sugar
production. Juice extraction efficiency of the current mill stands around 90-92%
instead of 98%. Cane with thrash as also affects the mill efficiency.
General Conclusion
In Pakistan about 90% of the sugar is extracted from sugarcane&10% from sugar
beet in favorable years there is more sugar production than the requirements and
in adverse years the country falls short resulting in imports. It has been
reported that there has been no fruitful improvement in the country's economy
during the last 15 years for the simple reason that the people concerned
traders, industrialists and other organizations were not taken into confidence,
while formulating policies. The global situation of agricultural products is
declining due to urbanization, increase in population and unfortunate natural
calamities. Due to probable scarcity of food supply, it is feared that in the
coming days, the situation may further go down and naturally it will completely
affect the foreign exchange reserves of the country in the long run.
One of the serious problems faced by Pakistan is low yield of sugarcane and
other crops. Various reasons for this poor output are: exceptionally large or
economically unviable small land holdings poor availability of certified quality
seeds, inadequate supply of fertilizer, agricultural implements and irrigation
water. It is also difficult for farmers to acquire credit as bulk of the funds
is extended to big landlords.