Pakistan’s Sindh to grant over 52,000 acres of land to army-backed firm for corporate farming

In this file photo, taken on September 2, 2022, farmers plant paddy saplings in a field in Sukkur, Sindh province. (AFP/File)

• The provincial government has signed an agreement to grant land in six districts for a period of 20 years 
• The pact is one of initiatives under Special Investment Facilitation Council’s umbrella to boost agriculture 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has formally agreed to grant more than 52,000 acres of barren land to an army-backed firm, M/S Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited, for corporate farming, the Sindh chief minister’s office said on Saturday, as part of efforts to boost agriculture in the South Asian country.
It was one of the initiatives under the umbrella of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), established in June last year, as part of which the federal and provincial governments, including the then-elected Sindh government, had decided to introduce the initiative of corporate agriculture farming (CAF) in all provinces, according to the Sindh CM’s office.
Considering an ongoing initiative decided at national and provincial levels, the statement of conditions (SoCs) for corporate agriculture farming was approved by the Sindh caretaker government on December 01, 2023 to ensure the continuity of the policy decisions of the previous elected governments both at federal and provincial levels.
“As a pilot project, concerned Deputy Commissioners have identified some pieces of barren land measuring approximately ‘52713’ Acres, for the pilot project of this initiative i.e., Khairpur 28,000 Acres, Tharparkar 10,000 Acres, Dadu 9305 Acres, Thatta 1000 Acres, Sujawal 3408 Acres and Badin 1000 Acres,” the Sindh CM’s office said in a statement.
“The barren land shall be handed over for 20 years after survey, demarcation and verification that such land is not located in prohibited areas, not under any pending litigations or court orders and also not included in any barrage land grants.”
The Sindh government said that it would ensure that no land was considered for this initiative that fell within the limits of any villages, katchi abadi, temporary shelters, grazing land, amenity, potential mining areas, motorways, roads, jails, railway lines, irrigation channels, wildlife sanctuaries, mountain ranges, heritage sites, religious sites, graveyards, forest, sea creeks, river deltas, port and sea shore.
“The Company shall spend 20 percent of the Net profit on Research and Development in the local area, while 40 percent of the Net Profit will be paid to the Sindh Government on an annual basis,” the statement read.
“The remaining 40 percent of the Company share shall also be spent on local infrastructures, irrigation channels, solar water supply schemes, schools, hospitals, development schemes and other facilities in areas where such projects will be executed in Sindh province.”
The land will not be granted as a title but only for cultivation purposes, while its ownership will remain with the Sindh government, according to the statement. A Board of Management has been established under the Sindh chief secretary that will take all decisions regarding the land management and issues, and the Sindh government will have the final authority in case any issues arise.
Agriculture contributes 23 percent to Pakistan’s GDP and employs 37.4 percent of the labor force but productivity is currently below par, with decreasing cultivation area, a population-production gap, and agricultural imports amounting to $10 billion.
The country is also facing a 4 million metric ton shortfall in wheat production against a total demand of 30.8 million metric tons, while cotton production has fallen by 40 percent to around 5 million bales in the last decade.
In July last year, Pakistan established a Land Information and Management System, Center of Excellence ((LIMS-CoE) to enhance modern agro-farming by utilizing over 9 million hectares of uncultivated state land, with a senior official saying that Saudi Arabia provided an initial $500 million investment to set up the facility.
Later in the same month, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, who is a member of the SIFC, and the then prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, inaugurated the nation’s first corporate farm as part of the initiative to modernize agricultural practices in the South Asian country.