Pakistan

THESE days, as we follow the struggle against the Taliban in the northwest, we can be forgiven for missing other important news. For instance, I had filed away a report on plans to lease large chunks of agricultural land in Punjab and Sindh to overseas investors in the back of my mind, planning to write about it later. When I ran a Google search on the subject, however, I realised the enormity of the scam.When I ran a Google search

Any student of history will tell you that a recurring feature of 20th century revolutions and civil wars was conflict over land ownership, driven by the resentment of the rural poor against the concentration of agricultural wealth in the hands of the elite.

Our government is planning to offer Arab investors legislative cover to protect them from changes in the government, but hardly any attention has yet been given to the need for protecting poor labourers who will be working for Arab corporate agriculture companies

In its bid to experiment with new ideas, the Pakistani government has decided to play host to overseas investors keen on acquiring farmlands to capitalise on food insecurities post-2007-08 crisis.

The Philippines has offered to become a major source of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia ahead of a planned visit by the kingdom’s agricultural minister Fahd Balghunaim, Arab News reported on Wednesday.

Emirates Investment Group is in the process of acquiring farmland in Pakistan to export more food to the Gulf region and is seeking international partners, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The issue of food security is getting higher on Riyadh’s priority list.

"Pakistan has finalised plans to offer ownership of agricultural lands to investors for farming, and is targeting investors from the UAE and other Gulf countries to help with their own food resources."

The Federal Minister of Investment in Pakistan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, said this week that the government plans to sell or lease 1 million acres of farmland to foreign investors, primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Although the news has yet to gain much coverage, if carried out it could punctuate growing unrest and frustration, given Pakistan’s limited amount of arable land and population of more than 170 million.

A cash-strapped Pakistani government plans to sell or rent one million acre land to foreign countries for agricultural purposes in a bid to underpin the country’s troubled economy. “A complete legal cover will be provided to the investors so that even in case of the change of government, they should not be affected.”

Pakistan is offering one million acres of farmland, protected by a special security force, for lease or sale to countries seeking to secure their food supplies, an official from the ministry of finance said on Monday.

Essentially, the Middle East is left with two choices. “The region has to import. The question is, invest abroad or rely on the free market?” said Dr Eckart Woertz, program manager in economics at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.