An agreement has been signed between the caretaker government of Punjab, military and private stakeholders that entails handing over some 45, 267 acres of land to Pakistan Army in three districts of Punjab namely Bakhar, Khushab and Sahiwal, for the purpose of “Corporate Agriculture Farming”. The land is being handed over for the period of 30 years. The development raised speculation and agitation among certain sectors of society with Lahore High Court issuing a 2-page verdict stopping caretaker government from extending any ‘lease of state land’ over a plea filed by Ahmad Rafay Alam on behalf of Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan on March 28, 2023. But should the ongoing development with respect to the said handover take place and in what case scenarios?
While interrogating this question, one should refer to the state and potential of Agricultural sector of Pakistan. Agriculture, Industry and Services are the main components of Pakistan’s real GDP with Agriculture devoting 22. 67% to the economy, deploying nearly half of all the employed labor force and becoming the largest source of foreign exchange reserves for the country. But to dismay of many, our agriculture sector has been reeling with stagnation experiencing a major decline, from 4% in 1960 to 2.5% in 2022. Our five main crops-wheat, cotton, maize, sugarcane and rice have been contributing 1.1% merely to the per annum growth for nearly two decades now. To further the misery, Pakistan food trade balance deficit stood at $ 3.6 billion in the FY 2022. All this while the stated agreement, if implemented tends to focus on different varieties of pulses, millets and rice in the first phase, followed by large-scale cultivation of canola and wheat in the next.
We need to dig deep into context of the project before making any final judgements that might have long-term consequences for the entire nation. The land in question is said to be barren, uncultivated or under-cultivated at best and army with relevant stake holders tends to turn it into fertile piece of production. According to the relevant sources in the military, army will not be getting any pecuniary benefits from the project. 40% revenue is said to go to the Punjab government, 20% to Modern Research and Development in the agriculture sector and the remain will be used for succeeding crops and expansion for the project. Military, for its part will be performing managerial roles. According to the sources’ “Army will utilize its resources and retain management of project. Private sector is made responsible to invest and provision of auxiliary support, including supply of fertilizers”.
In this context, army is not taking any ownership of the land and the in question remains the property of the Punjab government, sources entailed. The army, hence will intervene to provide “coherent administrative structure”, in this case scenario.
Now the issue as raised by the petition filed in the LHC stands as the caretaker government being lawfully hamstrung to strike any such deal with any relevant stakeholders of the country. The 2-page verdict issued by LHC endorsed Section 230 of the Elections Act, 2017 that stipulates that the mandate and scope of the caretaker government limits to performing day-to-day-functions and not those of policy decisions of permanent nature.
So while constitutional obligations should be fulfilled and adhered to, there is a need to avail the aforementioned opportunity for the betterment of both the agriculture potential and hence betterment of the people of Pakistan. the proposed joint venture keeps with the spirit of the suggestions proposed recently in a report titled “The State of Pakistan’s Agriculture 2023, Setting Agriculture on the Path of Growth”. It suggests private-sector driven business model in order to better realize dividends of agriculture sector. Pakistan’s economic growth target must include 4% real GDP growth in agriculture to overcome food insecurity in prospects and hence, there is a need to realize all proposed prospects with pragmatic prospective.
