53
Whose responsibility is it to violate the rights of sugarcane farmers?
The LCHR has received several complaints from the sugarcane farmers in Naqnaq village – Sohag governorate. They state that they have a lot of problems with Gerga sugar factory, the one that they provide with their sugarcane crops. The factory specifies the price of the sugarcane it buys from the farmers in their contracts. As this year, the price was 158 pounds per ton of sugarcane. The farmers complain about this very low price compared with the increasing production costs, in addition to the blights that infect the sugarcane harvest, like the crustacean insects and the sugarcane mite. The farmers bear a lot of expenses to face such diseases, as the agrarian association sprays the crops to eliminate these diseases, and then it charges the farmers for it.
Farmers also state in their complaints that the after they break the sugarcane from their fields stalls in sending trucks to take the harvest to a period that reaches one month, which leads to the drying of the sugarcane and the decrease of it weight and price. The farmers also state that they don't see the balance or the scales used to weigh their crops, they are not allowed to enter the factory during the weighing process, and if they insisted on being present, the factory refuses to receive their crops.
Another thing that farmers complain about, is that the factory only gives them 60% of their money in January and delays the rest for about seven months till August, the manager of the factory asks the farmers to wait until the factory produces sugar and sells it., and if any farmer objects on that, the factory doesn't take his production of sugarcane the next year.
About 150 thousand feddans of land are planted with sugarcane, which produce about one million tons of sugar a year, while we import about 600 thousand tons from abroad. Therefore, the LCHR sees the importance of supporting sugarcane farmers to encourage them to plant more sugarcane, in order to reach self-sufficiency by solving their problems and protecting them against monopoly. The farmers must be provided with means to deliver their crops to the factory on time, they must be present during the weighing process of their crops even if through monitors so there won't be any manipulation, the factory must provide them with reasonable prices suitable to the high production expenses and the high profits that the factory gains, and the factory must pay the farmers their money all at once as soon as it receives the sugarcane.
The LCHR demands the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Investment and the governor of Sohag to solve the problems of sugarcane farmers in Sohag, in order to achieve self-sufficiency of sugar and to guarantee their right to decent living.
For more information, please contact the Center.