He went on to point out that "every dollar invested in agriculture creates more jobs than any other sector...agriculture development is the key to alleviating poverty in Pakistanis". To say the least, this is a short-sighted and bogus justification for the plan to sell/lease fertile farmlands to foreigners. It will put Pakistan in the league of some of the world's poorest nations such as Ethiopia, Sudan and Mali where rich but food and water-scarce nations like Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Korea, and Libya, respectively, have acquired vast tracts of farmlands to grow food crops.
China has also entered into land deals with Congo and Zambia to cultivate food and bio-fuel crops. Those land sales are already the subject of increasing international concern, including that of the UN, for fear the rights of local farmers would be compromised, creating political and social tensions.
There are at least three reasons why we should shelve the present ill-advised plan. First is the fact that the foreign investors are not interested in our lands to develop our agriculture sector; they want to ensure their own food security. Indeed, they have the money to raise productivity using modern technology, but as the experience of the African nations shows, at least two-thirds of the produce will not stay in this country.
Which is something to worry about, considering that in the Food Security Risk Index, released last September, Pakistan ranked at number 11 in a list of 148 countries, appearing in the category of the 'extreme risk' countries. With impending droughts and changing weather patterns, we might be in for even greater risk if the government does not properly prepare for the future.
Secondly, it is erroneous also to think the activity would create jobs and alleviate rural poverty. The modern technologies rich foreign investors are expected to employ, are not going to create a lot of jobs. For, such technologies are not labour intensive. Thirdly, other examples show that once they are there, rich foreign investors tend to push local people out of their lands through pressure or enticement, which eventually generates social tensions.
Also, when foreigners are seen making profitable use of the land that too creates resentment, leading to a sense of deprivation and dispossession among the local people. Disputes over water use are yet another potential area of trouble. The present plan, therefore, is a recipe for disaster.
Indeed, the key to poverty alleviation, which is present in its worst forms in our rural areas, is to develop agriculture. The best way forward would be to give ownership rights to landless peasants rather than foreigners. In the past, the government did give away some fallow lands to landless farmers, but it did not lead to fruitful results. The reason is obvious.
The poor farmers did not have the resources to buy the necessary inputs. What the government should do is to give away millions of acres of fallow lands, on offer to rich foreigners, to poor farmers, along with necessary credit facilities. The agricultural credit policy needs to be revised. Instead of granting rich landowners loans worth billions of rupees, which they rarely return, a much better investment would be to provide loan facility to small farmers.
The idea has worked wonders in Thailand under the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinwatra's government, and has since been emulated by some other neighbouring countries. That will help reverse poverty, and also increase overall productivity. The government should also think about new and meaningful land reforms so that the tillers of the land make an effective and efficient use of our precious land resource.