The Pakistani army has been given huge swathes of land to turn into agriculture use.
Some 45,267 acres in the districts of Bhakkar, Khushab, and Sahiwal have been granted to the military by the caretaker government of Punjab.
The army is to provide the resources to turn the areas to Corporate Agriculture Farming.
The Punjab government signed a joint venture between it, the military, and a number of private firms.
While the military will manage the project and provide labour, it is apparently unlikely to reap the benefits, with 40 per cent of the revenue earmarked to go to the Punjab and 20 per cent to research and development
The remainder will be used for the succeeding crops and expansion of the project.
The private sector will invest and provide auxiliary support, including the supply of fertilisers.
By using the army’s resources and management skills, it is hoped to turn the allocated area – mostly barren or under-cultivated at present – into fertile growing land.
The Punjab Board of Revenue is said to have spent months conducting surveys to identify the lands best suited for corporate farming purposes.
While they will be administrated by the military, the land remains the property of the government, officials said.
A number of retired army officers are being brought back into the service to run the scheme.
Agriculture in Pakistan has become less efficient in recent years, with “flawed reforms, in-effective agriculture policies coup-
led with climate change, and population boom” being blamed.
In the 1960s the country’s agri sector’s growth rate stood at four per cent. Today it is down to 2.5 per cent.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics says at least 27 per cent of the total cultivated land in the country is not being utilised.
In the first phase of the military project, pulses, millets and rice will be cultivated, to be followed by large-scale cultivation of canola and wheat.
The United States, meanwhile,
has unveiled a number of new initiatives to improve farming in Pakistan.
These include a four-year pro-gramme, costing £4.5 million, to strengthen fertiliser efficiency and effectiveness for Pakistani farmers.
The Fertilizer Right programme – to be launched with local partners – will also help farmers in the region reduce environmental pollution and lower costs.
The announcement was made after the two countries recently concluded the second meeting of the Climate and Environment Working Group in Islamabad.
The US Army Corps of Engineers will also be sharing snowpack assessments with several Pakistan government agencies to strengthen flood forecasting capacity.
These assessments use satellite imagery and algorithms to estimate snow-covered areas and snowpack water volumes in five major water-sheds in Pakistan: Upper Indus, Kabul, Chenab, Sutlej, and Lower Indus.
Another US-backed project will look at reducing emissions from Pakistan’s dairy sector.
It will pilot new interventions to identify effective options for
emissions reductions, such as
changes in animal feed, re-productive health, and manure management.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
