Sugarcane is mainly grown in Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Sugar mills need to be located near sugarcane fields because sugarcane starts losing its sugar content after harvesting and must be crushed immediately. It is also bulky and heavy to transport far. Problems include sugar mills operating below capacity due to high sugarcane prices set by middlemen, and a short 160-day milling season which causes intermittent operations and losses. Solutions proposed include making all mills public companies, banning government protection or subsidies, and directly paying farmers to reduce middlemen prices.

1. Courtesy: Classes X 2007

3. Raw Materials
Sugar is mainly made from sugar cane.
The main areas of sugar-cane
production from Sindh to Punjab are
widely spread. As sugar cane is a
tropical crop, it can’t tolerate frost.
General output
of sugar cane
is 37.5 tonnes
per hectare.
Sugarcane crop

5. Sugar mills have to be located near the
sugarcane fields because:
•sugarcane starts losing its sugar
content as soon as it is harvested. It
needs to be crushed immediately.
•sugarcane is bulky and heavy.
Therefore, its transportation cost is
high.

8. Products and By-products
• Sugarcane is used primarily in the making of
sugar, ghur and other sweet products.
• By-products are:
1. Bagasses: Used to make paper, chipboard,
animal feed and also used as a fuel to produce
electricity to run machinery in sugar mills.
1. Molasses: Are used to produce various types
of acid and ethylene, which can be turned to
packaging plastics.

12. A sugar product
Making Ghur (Jaggery)
Jaggery (Gur

13. By-products:Bagasse and Molasses

14. Uses of processed sugar
Sugar has many uses:
•As a sweetener: Sugar is added to foods or drinks to
make them taste more pleasant. For example, it
balances the bitterness of coffee and reduces the
tartness of sour fruit.
•As a preservative: Sugar is a natural preservative
that binds water to prevent the growth of micro-
organisms, thereby reducing food spoilage, as in jams
and preservatives.
•As a bulking agent: Sugars gives texture to a variety
of foods, from jams to frozen products.

17. PAPER

20. Problems and Solution to sugar crises
DECEMBER 13, 2010 (HTTP://WWW.PAKISTANTODAY.COM.PK/2010/12/13/EDITORS-MAIL/SOLUTION-
TO-SUGAR-CRISES)
There are 84 sugar mills operating in the country with a capacity of 4000
tons to 20,000 tons. Most of these sugar mills are operating below their
capacity due to the shortage of sugarcane. The farmers and growers are not
selling sugarcane at the prices fixed by the government. There are
middlemen who are responsible for the high prices of the crop.
Out of 84 sugar mills only 38 are listed in the Stock Exchanges. Those,
which are not public limited companies, are owned by private companies and
families and thus not accountable to the public.
As the government has miserably failed to control the prices of sugarcane
and refined sugar, it is time to find out a permanent solution. I suggest that
the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) should revert to
its previous law which bounds and makes it compulsory for the industrial
projects with the cost of 200 million rupees to be a public limited company so
that the public can have the 50 percent of equity shares in the industries.
This will make the sugar mills accountable to shareholders and the
monopoly of a family will be dismantled.

21. The government should not provide any protection to the sugar industries and it
should collect the direct income tax from the directors of the companies instead
of levying the sale tax. The government should follow the free market
mechanism and let the market decide the prices. The government should also
allow duty free import of raw brown sugar and refined sugar.
The government can play its role by advocating less consumption of sugar as it
is not essential for good health. The banks should not provide direct loans to the
sugar mills for purchase of sugarcane. They should make the payment directly
to the farmers and growers association. It will eliminate the role of middlemen
and investors.
The provinces should establish food authorities to monitor the production of
sugar mills and control its hoarding and black marketing. A quota should be
fixed for the utilities stores to which sugar mills should be made legally bound to
supply a certain percentage of their production to utilities stores. There should
be no role for federal ministries and TCP. The provincial government should be
responsible for meeting the demand of their population.
S T HUSSAIN
Lahore

23. June 2001/Paper 2/Qs 4
(b)
(i) Describe the distribution of sugar mills in Pakistan [4]
(ii) Explain why sugar mills must be close to area of sugar
cultivation. [2]
(iii) State the inputs required by a processing factory such as a
sugar mill. [6]
(iv) Select a sugar mill at one of the following locations;
Faisalabad Mardan Thatta
Explain how its input needs are satisfied. [6]
(v) At sugar mills the milling season lasts only 160 days. What
problems does this cause and how might they be overcome? [4]

24. November 2002/Paper 2/Qs 3
(a)
For sugar cane,
(i) Name an area which is important for growing it. [1]
(ii) State the natural inputs that enable it to be grown in the are
you have named
in (a) (i). [5]
(iii) Explain why human inputs are very important for its
successful cultivation in Pakistan. [5]
(iv) State three processes necessary for the cultivation of
sugarcane [3]
(v) State the form in which it is taken to the sugar mill. [1]
(b) Explain why sugar mills need to be close to farms growing .
Sugarcane. [3]

25. M/J/06
Q3.b(i)Name the areas of high sugarcane production. [3]
(ii)Why are these areas suitable for the cultivation of
sugarcane? [4]
(iii)What happens to sugarcane from the time it is fully grown
to when sugar juice is extracted? [3]
(iv)Explain why baggases is an important by product of
sugarcane industry. [3]

26. Q1:Describe the main processes in the sugar
cane industry?
Q2:Name the main locations of sugarcane
production?
Q3:Why are the sugarcane industries near the
fields?
Q4:Describe the problems faced by sugarcane
growing farmers?
Question Bank(2000-2007)