Corporate Social Responsibility - Sustainable Development Policy ...

Corporate Social Responsibilitysucrose content within it begins to deteriorate so the mills give out indent toorganize the farmers bring in their stock; in this manner the sugarcane trolleysdon’t have to wait outside the mill gate for their turn to arrive. CCP supportingthe mechanism briefed: “corporation provides credit to the farmers so it may be efficientbecause farmer have surety about his crop. If you have certainty and you have low risk thenthat is the biggest thing because that is beneficial for both parties. But term and conditionshould properly clear and these term and condition should not be exploitative.”IX.Delaying the CrushingThe sugarcane crop ripens in October and November; the mills are legally boundto start purchasing and crushing between 1st October to 30 November howevera report accused that the millers prefer a delayed start so that cane weight islessened due to drying and the sugar content is higher. The report continues towrite that the delay also makes the farmers anxiety as they need to clear the farmfor sowing of wheat or other crops. This panic helps the factories procure thecane on their terms. 38 On the other hand all managers reported that there is noconscious delay in crushing this would adversely affect the quality of sugarcanereducing the sucrose content and hence a delay would be disadvantageous forthe mill. However there may be a wait if there is a heavy stock of sugarcane insuch cases the hindrance is purely due to the limited capacity of the productionprocess.X. Weighing the CropEven though, the National Sugar Policy promises that ‘kunda’ and sucrose varietytesting stations are to be monitored by provincial governments using the SugarCess Fund to guarantee fair testing and weighing facilities no such practice isbeing followed. The respondents reported that weighing, pricing and judging thecrop is strictly between the grower and the mill with no intervention from anyneutral third party. To protect themselves and minimize the occurrence ofexploitation growers usually weigh their stock on independent private weighingstations before bringing it to the mill. The sugarcane is weighed by the factoriesor factory-authorized weigh stations; farmers appealed that the weight of thesugarcane cannot be challenged or verified by a neutral party; they at times doraise their voices against this practice but are not heard. Most farmers are38Farmer Report, Punjab Lok Sujag. October 2008y 38