KARACHI, Jul 11 (APP): The Pakistan Business Forum (PBF), lauding the Green Pakistan Initiative launched by the incumbent government, on Tuesday said that the country’s second green revolution would pave the way for progress and prosperity, besides attracting massive foreign direct investment.
PBF Vice President Chaudhry Ahmad Jawad, in interaction with APP, said the historic initiative with the Pakistan Army’s special focus on revolutionising the agricultural sector would make farming the significant driver of the monetary development and ensure food security as well.
He said in Pakistan’s agricultural sector, billion-dollar investments are anticipated within the next four to five years through the promotion of cutting-edge technology, collaboration between the public and private sectors, and dividends distributed to local farmers to alleviate poverty.
“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations import $40 billion worth of agricultural and food products annually,” he said, adding under the supervision of the Special Investment Facilitation Council, the government intended to attract investment in the amount of billions of dollars into Pakistan’s agriculture sector from the GCC nations.
In addition to the creation of 4 million new jobs, there would be an investment of approximately $40 billion over the next four to five years, Jawad anticipated.
“We are importing $4.5 billion worth of palm oil and as an emerging nation we can’t spend such a gigantic sum on the import of a single commodity,” he added.
Pakistan, he said, used to produce more cotton than the neighbouring country, “but today we are behind in cotton, wheat, and other agricultural products. Pakistan produces great Basmati rice but now it has many competitors.”
“In a year or two, our agri-based economy will be revived. We will not have to seek further loans but investors will come by themselves,” he hoped.
The PBF official while speaking on Land Information Management System – Centre of Excellence (LIMS – COE) said that it would definitely support the new shape of Pakistan’s agriculture sector as it would focus on transforming farming methods in Pakistan with a view to optimising agricultural output for improving domestic food security and creating exportable surplus for the Gulf states and China.
The GIS-based initiative, he noted, was aimed at utilisation of 22 million acres of uncultivated state land and improving modern agro-farming. Under LIMS, the government anticipates significant investments in agriculture from China and the Gulf.
“In a similar vein, it may be the first multifaceted strategy to simultaneously address pressing agricultural issues: developing food uncertainty, a flooding food and rural import bill and reducing send out the excess, Jawad said anticipating that the new plan’s success would significantly address the issues.
He also stressed the need of encouraging the utilisation of uncultivated state land to boost crop output, investing in swathes of wasteland to make them cultivable and also putting a stop to the encroachment of agricultural lands by sprawling housing schemes.
The LIMS initiative was only the first step and a lot was required to ensure food security and create exportable agricultural surplus, he concluded.
