Pakistani economist Qaiser Bengali has criticized the country’s sugar industry model, arguing that increasing sugar production is being falsely presented as economic progress while actually draining public resources and benefiting powerful industrial groups.
Economist Dr Qaiser Bengali says Pakistan’s sugar industry is being promoted as economic growth despite relying heavily on subsidies, political influence, and inefficient agricultural policies.
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Speaking on Pakistan’s agricultural and economic direction, Bengali said sugarcane is fundamentally a coastal crop because higher sucrose levels — essential for sugar production — are found in sugarcane grown near coastal regions.
According to him, the farther cultivation moves away from coastal areas toward northern regions, the lower the sucrose content becomes, making production less efficient.
Bengali argued that sugarcane cultivation in Pakistan should ideally remain limited to a few coastal districts including Thatta, Badin, and Sujawal, with sugar mills also concentrated in those areas.
He criticized the state’s approach of celebrating rising sugar production figures as a sign of development, saying the process actually places a burden on the national economy.
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“When sugar production increases, the government calls it development. But this is not real development,” Bengali said. “Money is taken from the public treasury — which ultimately comes from citizens — and transferred to sugar mill owners.”
The economist warned against relying solely on statistical growth indicators to define national progress, stressing that Pakistan urgently needs to redefine what genuine development means.
Reflecting on Pakistan’s earlier decades, Bengali said the country once had a clearer national vision regarding industrial priorities and economic direction, regardless of whether governments were civilian or military-led.
“In Pakistan’s first 30 years, there was a visible national vision about where the country was heading and what its development model would be,” he said, adding that meaningful progress was achieved during that period.
Bengali argued that the current system lacks strategic direction and instead focuses on distributing resources and privileges among powerful groups while using selective economic statistics to create an illusion of development.
His remarks come amid continuing national debates over agricultural subsidies, water shortages, sugar pricing, and the political influence of Pakistan’s powerful sugar industry.
