Pakistan sugar industry: a sweet-bitter saga.

Byline: Nazir Ahmed Shaikh

Pakistan's sustainable economic growth begins with a strong agricultural base since it is an agrarian economy. The agriculture sector contributes around 21% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing more than 40% of the labor force. It provides food to the rapidly growing population and fiber to the industry. Besides, the sector is also a source of foreign exchange earnings. Pakistan has been blessed with a very fertile land. Approximately 38 million acres of land is being used for agriculture and forestry; supported by an irrigation system with 40,000 miles of canals.

After the textile industry, the sugar industry is the only industry which can be called a model for agro-based industries. Sugarcane is a labor-intensive crop that requires about 134 man-days/hectare. Sugarcane cultivation provides a partial and seasonal employment to 3.9 million people approximately, which is about 12.14% of the total agricultural labor force.

Pakistan is the 6th largest sugarcane producer in the world. Like other cash crops, sugarcane is one of the most important cash crops of Pakistan and the main; it is a main contributor for sugar production besides paper and board industry. Pakistan is ranked number nine in the world for sugar production. On the other hand, it is the 8th largest sugar consuming country in the world. Currently, there is more than one million hectares of land used for sugarcane cultivation which produces more than ve million tons of refined sugar annually.

There are about 90 sugar mills in the country, providing job opportunities to more or less 0.3 million people and contributing more than Rs20 billion to the government exchequer annually in the form of taxes. Though sugarindustry in Pakistan has always remained under criticism mainly on the grounds of earning huge prots through cartelization. Though the socio-economic growth in the rural population of Sindh, Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is associated with the sugar industry. These sugar mills normally contact the farmers directly to understand their problems and facilitate them in solving the issues of availability of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.

Over the years, domestic sugar consumption has grown from 0.5 million metric tons in 1975 to 5.1m metric tons in 2017 on the back of population growth. The per capita consumption of refined sugar in Pakistan was estimated at 25.65 kg in fiscal year 2017-18. As there is no major substitute for...