Studying the Sugar Production Process in Pakistan
Introduction
The purpose of this study is to understand the status of CSR practices in the sugar industry of Pakistan with the use of the value chain analysis. The sample was selected because sugar industry is an agro based industry and forms major part of economy. This industry’s area of work is also spread across villages and to the cities where its consumers live. Pakistan’s economy is largely an agriculture based economy. Agriculture provides livelihood to almost 44.7 percent of the total employed labor force in the country and the present contribution to GDP stands at 21.8 percent.1 In Pakistan major crops such as wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane account for 82% of the value added in the major crops. These major crops on average contribute 33.1% to the value added in overall agriculture and 7.1% to GDP2 in which sugarcane by itself contributes 3.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.3 Being the second largest industry in Pakistan with 82 mills the sugar industry is an important segment of the corporate arena of the country. The sugar industry employs over 75000 people; it approximately holds, directly and indirectly, 1.5 million of the total employment of the country. Along with other levies to the Government, the industry supplements around Rs. 4 million under the head of excise duty.4 Table 1 and 2 below represent the area under the important crops of Pakistan and their production figures. 1
Economic Survey of Pakistan 2008-09
2
Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009-10 One-man Commission Report, Competition Commission of Pakistan. 2009 (REPORT OF THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE HONOURABLE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN, THROUGH ORDER DATED 2.10.2009 IN THE TITLED PETITIONS, TO DETERMINE THE COST OF PRODUCTION AND PROFIT MARGINS IN THE SUGAR SECTOR)
3
4
Sugar Industry in Pakistan (M. Aslam Memon, 2002)
y
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