Displacing farmers for grass production in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates company Al Dahra Agriculture has forcedly grabbed 500 acres (202.34 hectares) of land in the village of Sayed Khadim Ali Shah, Mirpurkhas district. Through a lease with the local landlord, lands formerly grown with food are now being planted with alfalfa and rhodes grass for export to countries in the Middle East, Europe, and US. Farmers were suddenly reduced to being underpaid grass production workers. Since heavy machinery does most of the work, labour opportunities are also few, driving many farmers to work as sharecroppers in other villages or to migrate to the cities.

They also cannot access their lands for fodder for their livestock and other purposes. "Now, we cannot even get a single dinghri(wild shrub) for making baar (a boundary wall made from wild shrubs around mud houses)," according to a farmer. Worse of all, most of them are left with nothing to eat. "Seven to eight years ago, we were producing cotton, sugarcane, wheat, chili and vegetables. We were rearing cows, buffalos and goats, and had an abundance of milk, curd and butter. All that has now vanished," said another farmer. Grass production by Al Dahra has also caused water shortage in adjacent lands.

The people of Sayed Khadim Ali Shah are afraid to confront their landlord and the company and are thus forced to endure their situation.

Download this case study entitled, A Case of Land Grab in Sindh conducted by Roots for Equity, a Pakistan-based partner of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific.

 

    Posted by: Arnold Padilla
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