Pakistan landowners ready to lease farmlands to foreigners

Despite earlier concerns, a favourable environment is anticipated in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as Pakistani land owners see no harm in leasing out vast farmlands to foreign investors.

 

Two years ago, the Sarhad Chamber of Agriculture, NWFP was contacted by investors from the Gulf states through a letter showing interest in acquiring farmlands on lease under corporate farming.

 

Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and Germany have shown interest in the projects of corporate farming which include cattle farming, meat processing, dairy farming, fisheries and animal feedmills.

 

The Board of Investment (BOI) has planned to lease out 9.1 million hectares of farmland to foreign countries and multinational companies in the four provinces. In the NWFP, farmlands in Kohat, DI Khan and Hazara divisions may be leased out to foreign investors.

 

It is said the idea of corporate farming is not new as it is already envisaged in the Companies' Act 1984. The present government started serious work on the concept in 2008 after a friendly Gulf state showed enormous interest. However, the idea has aroused fears among the farmers in the Punjab, who think it will only create poverty and dislocate thousands of families.

 

Meanwhile, NWFP landowners and progressive growers say that the vast stretches of farmland lying barren for years in the province may be brought under cultivation through corporate farming.

 

Abdul Rahim Khan, a progressive farmer and general secretary of the Sarhad Chamber of Agriculture, has said they were considering the letter from the Gulf investors and they would definitely favour corporate farming for a better future of the province.

 

''There is no risk in it as we will only lease out our lands we are unable to use,'' he said.

 

''It will bring new technology to our outdated farming industry which we cannot acquire because we lack capital,'' he said.

 

It may also bring under cultivation over three lakh acres of barren land in DI Khan and a vast chunk of such land in Kohat besides creating thousands of work openings for the indigenous population.