DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RICE / SUGAR & TEXTILE INDUSTRY.

Growth of any industry is purely dependent on how it has been integrated with gross root supply chain and co-dependence of stake holders.

Firstly, we capture few highlights from Sugar & rice Industry,

Both industries are working on lean supply chain method which include not only farmer/ farm groups but it also covers R&D and inputs in the supply chain.

Sugar Industry has well established R&D and input supply chain systems in place which has given it an edge, a boost in productivity, integrity as well as farmer support during crop season,

Like my last survey in Nawabshah, Sangher & Sakrand cities where I have interviewed a few sugar cane farmers to understand how they are being monitored / managed by Sugar industry, key points are as below,

• Prior to sowing an expert from Sugar Industry visits their land and the main task performed by him/her is to check soil health and farmer practices for land preparation. If anything not as per their requirements / standards they are being provided training accordingly. This is an on-going process which they do prior to every sowing season.
• Secondly they check soil health / analysis to ensure nutrition level is up to mark. In case of any lacking they are providing press mud-cake which is a by product of sugar cane as fertilizer which has rich mineral content and is beneficial to improve soil fertility,
• Growers are being provided tested seed for sugar cane which is developed by agri experts of sugar industry with focus on high yield as well as better recovery of sugar cane juice.
• Growers are being supported in terms of subsidies for fertilizer and pesticides from sugar industry on loan basis which is being settled upon first crop / batch delivered to Sugar mills. Mostly these arrangements are being done through banking channel.

Very similar practices are being followed by Rice industry with little bit change,

• Rice industry is doing R&D on their pilot/demo plots for development of high quality / high yield rice plant and these plants are being provided on subsidized rates to growers.
• Remaining process is almost in-line with sugar industry to secure product,  such as farmer training, crop monitoring etc.

Now we can discuss about cotton grower and textile industry,

A neutral comment that if we make analysis between these three industries! Textile is far behind Sugar & Rice industry in terms of chain of integrity and gross root support.  Cotton grower are the ones in agriculture sector who don’t have access to latest research and support for their day to day challenges. It has also been noticed that Farmers are not able to get support from Agriculture extension depart either. In fact they hardly have access to extension depart and the department does not have well trained staff available on ground to support farmers.

Another fact is that mostly cotton growers are small holders, majority holding land of 3 to 4 acres with limited financial resources. With limited resource availability they are not able to cultivate their full land as they do not have finances to buy high quality seed, fertilizer and water management equipment. There is also no system in place to provide them agri-loan from banks due to various reasons such as lack of proper land identification, legal documents etc.

Lack of resources during cultivation season limits farmer even on harvesting with challengers such as shortage of labour, lack of ability to buy natural fiber bags to minimize contamination of the harvested cotton fiber.

With all challenges still growing cotton is a big task and it is a challenging crop since pest attacks,  unexpected / shortage of rainfall and accidents still happen.  Some time causing them to loose some or in specific incidents a major part of their crops forcing them to bear unsustainable losses.

Since rice & sugar industries are working in a semi agri corporate environment, making group of farmers and providing support during cultivation and in post & pre harvest activities this provides a substantial incentives for cotton farmers to shift to either rice or sugarcane farming.

All these models are available,  Textile industry only need to evaluate these and implement the most suitable to gain maximum benefits for their End product. This will not only support them for high end product but it will save the country foreign reserves which are being spent for cotton import of roughly 91 million US$ a year.    

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