Pakistan

This is a case study undertaken by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific and Roots for Equity. It looks into the intricacies of Al Dhara Company's investment in Sindh, Pakistan.

Participants from various communities shared documented cases, stories and photos of how large-scale investments of local and foreign owned companies are displacing communities and how people oppose such type of investments.

“We are offering investment opportunities in agriculture farming, livestock, grain-storage project as well as in infrastructure development projects,” says chairman of the Sindh Board of Investment

Pakistan has announced an investment policy which is encouraging the corporate sector to engage vast lands in all four provinces of Pakistan on very easy terms.

The Pakistan government should table a bill in the parliament before proposing further selling of agricultural lands in order to have a legitimate regulatory mechanism in place, says economist.

The common denominator throughout the South, write Najma Sadeque, is that customary laws or rights of usage are no longer recognised, and constitutions do not guarantee protection of community lands

Indus Basin Holdings, a private equity firm incorporated in Mauritius that invests in rice production and dairy farms in Pakistan, has managed to get Britain’s former foreign secretary David Miliband on board as a senior adviser.

United Arab Emirates is interested to cultivate agricultural goods in Pakistan and is also ready to make small dams for irrigation on the condition agricultural goods from Pakistan should not be stopped exporting to UAE.

The China Green company wants to acquire 10,000 acres of farmland in Pakistan on lease to grow fruits and vegetables.

Venture capitalists, merchant bankers and large conglomerates are all piling in.

Hassad Food Company is keen to secure food supplies for Qatar at reasonable prices through local and international investments in various countries, according to an article in the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry memorial book ‘40 Years of Excellence and Achievement.’

Ambassador of Sudan says more than 4,500 square miles are available for farming and agriculture sectors and investors would have the opportunity to bring in skilled workers for farming.