By Ahmad Rafay Alam
It has been reported that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has announced that Pakistan will press on with its plans to sell arable farmland to foreign countries. The news comes from Dubai, and it is assumed that this statement was made in connection with the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting being held there.
Last September, it had been reported that several Arab countries were interested in investing in as much as 700,000 hectares of arable land in Pakistan. Some time ago, Qatar hit headlines when it negotiated a 40,000-hectare land deal with Kenya. Because of increasing populations, decreasing water supplies and the threat of climate change, many Arab countries are contemplating acquiring arable land in other countries to meet the food security challenges they face.
The prospect of food security issues leading to countries investing in agriculture land in other countries has been controversial. Even the United Nations is stated to be concerned that farmers' rights in developing countries might be compromised if rich countries buy their land.
In an article last year ("Leasing out land and food security," Sept 4), I had said: "We may be indebted to our [Arab allies], but we must not let this be a reason for them to take advantage of us. It is attractive but terminally short-term to think that a step such as leasing nearly three-quarter of a million hectares of arable land to foreigners will bring much-needed foreign investment into the country.
"But the fact is that at this moment in Pakistan, there exists the expertise, motivation, desire and manpower to bring and introduce water conservation practices into place, to introduce smarter irrigation and farming techniques. What is strange is that, given these opportunities for Pakistan's agriculture sector to become more productive and sustainable, the government is choosing to dispose of the same agricultural land to someone else."
According to Reuters, the foreign minister has explained the deal as follows: "Many people misunderstood these deals, and we are now trying to explain to them that the land we want to sell is not land that belongs to anyone or even has any existing agriculture activity. The land we want to offer investors is not used by anyone due to lack of investment, and so we are committed to going ahead with the deals."
Our foreign minister is a farmer himself and must know what he's talking about. However, the fact is that we, the concerned citizens of Pakistan, now face the prospect of hundreds of thousands of arable hectares of land being sold to foreigners when we face numerous development, poverty, agricultural and irrigation challenges of our own. The fact is that the minister is making these statements at a moot designed specifically to raise funds for Pakistan – urgently needed funds. This, in turn, raises suspicions about whether or not the questions that have been raised – the "misunderstanding" the foreign minister says that we harbour – have properly been answered by our elected representatives before we commit the rest of the nation on an uncharted course of action.
The foreign minister says that the land being offered under these deals is currently uncultivated. If so, then has the government of Pakistan considered allowing Pakistanis to farm this land? After all, there are millions of unemployed Pakistanis eager to work to make a living.
Remember, the British put Indians to work cultivating newly canal-irrigated land, to much success, over a hundred years ago. Why can't Pakistani's cultivate the land being offered to foreign investors and export their produce to them, for income and profit?
It has been said that the foreign investment that will be attracted by these deals will improve the rural economy and empower the poor and poverty-stricken.
If so, then what methods does the government of Pakistan envision these foreign farmers to employ? Will it be labour-intensive or heavily mechanised farming techniques? If the latter, then what employment opportunities will these investments bring the poverty stricken and jobless Pakistanis?
How will these foreign investments play out? Will they be up-front payment for the purchase of land or long-term lease arrangements? Will the foreign investors pay for inputs such as water; and, if so, at what cost? Will all of the food produced by foreign investors be exported to their home countries for consumption? Will they pay taxes?
Not just that, but according to news reports Pakistan said last year it would install a 100,000-strong security force to ensure a stable environment for investment in farmlands in the four provinces of the country. If this is so, then the government of Pakistan is doing a poor job of making out a case to lease this land to foreigners. Who will pay for the salaries of this 100,000-strong security force? Any why does the government of Pakistan think such foreign investment in farmland will need such security? After all, these lands are stated to be uncultivated.
Far too many questions remain unanswered for the government of Pakistan to decide to forge ahead with these deals. The leasing out of lands must not be spun to a Pakistani public only as much-needed investment. It must also be explained to them on the basis of economic probity and good sense. And unless that case is made, the government of Pakistan is doing no one any favours by "pressing ahead" with these farmland deals.
Meanwhile, spare a moment on the Friends of Democratic Pakistan conference. The fact that's its being held in Dubai, and not in Karachi, is an indication just how physically close foreign investors actually want to get to Pakistan. While no structural changes are taking place to our economy or our security apparatus, the government of Pakistan is out asking people for their money.
Economist Nadeem Ul Haque correctly points out that this conference amounts to a plea that we do not want to do anything ourselves; that we will not change our lifestyles, and that we want foreign money so that we can continue to do what we have been doing wrong for all these many years. While the name Friends of Democratic Pakistan is new, this manner of raising funds has been used from the time of Ayub Khan. Dubai was nothing but a fishing village at that time, as Nadeem Ul Haque also points out.
Another interesting bit of news. Jang has reported that Pakistan has deployed a 300-strong team of its Special Forces personnel in Yemen to join the war being fought there against Houthi fighters in the northern Sa'ada Province. Yemen launched an operated against the Shia Houthi fighters last August and its forces were joined by forces sent by Saudi Arabia in November. The Houthis accuse the Yemeni government of violating their civil rights and marginalising them politically and socially. The Yemeni government accuses the Houthi fighters of violating a 2009 ceasefire.
While the people and government of Pakistan continually lament the fact that US drone attacks on our soil violate international law and human rights, isn't it heart-warming that our armed forced are doing something similar to brother Muslims in Yemen?
The writer is an advocate of the high court and a member of the adjunct faculty at LUMS. He has an interest in urban planning. Email: [email protected]
