Dr Azra Sayeed
The News (Pakistan) | Sunday, October 11, 2009
By our correspondent
Karachi In view of food insecurity in Pakistan and dozens of women losing their lives in a horrendous manner just to get a few kilos of flour free of cost, there was no justification of selling agricultural land to foreigners, said Dr Azra Talat Sayeed, Executive Director, Roots for Equity, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Saturday afternoon, she was flanked by Dr Michael Hansen, a senior scientist associated with the Consumers Union, USA, and Abdul Sattar, a peasant leader from the Punjab. She said that ironically neither the sale of agricultural land had been debated in the Parliament nor the government was ready to reveal which land was being sold. She said that Pakistan faced acute irrigation water shortage alongwith an ongoing dispute between Sindh and Punjab. “With Saudi Arabia being promised more than 500,000 acres, and rumours circulating that nearly six million acres of agricultural land has been promised for cultivation, the country has left itself open to a huge food production crisis,” she remarked. She said that illegal genetically modified organisms were being sown in Pakistan and the gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that 70 per cent area in lower Sindh was under genetically modified crops. The GMOs, she said, had adverse health and environmental impact. She said that at the same time, the government was allowing corporate agricultural production further support through changing the Seed Act of Pakistan and promoting cultivation of genetically modified crops, particularly Bt Cotton. Dr Hansen said that Bt Cotton seed was five times more expensive than the conventional cotton seed.Abdul Sattar said that farmers in Punjab were not aware that they were purchasing Bt Cotton seeds since it was being sold with different names.
