Pak Army-backed firm to start corporate farming on 52,000 acres of land in Sindh

The caretaker Sindh government has inked an agreement with a Pakistan army-backed firm to start the 'Green Pakistan initiative' for corporate farming on 52,000 acres of land in six districts of the province.

The agreement was signed between the provincial interim government and M/s Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited at Chief Minister House despite reservations from nationalist parties.

“After a successful pilot corporate agriculture farming project in Punjab, a government-to-government (G2G) Joint Venture Agreement was signed at Chief Minister House between the Sindh government and M/s Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited, a company under the umbrella of the Pakistan Army for corporate agriculture farming initiative for cultivating available barren land in all the provinces of the country,” a press release issued by the CM House read.

The agreement said that corporate agriculture farming would be initiated on 52,713 acres of “barren” land in Khairpur, Tharparkar, Dadu, Thatta, Sujwal, and Badin.

Almost 28,000 acres of land will be handed over to the company for 20 years in Kahirpur, 10,000 acres in Tharparkar, 9,305 acres in Dadu, 1,000 acres in Thatta, 3,408 acres in Sujawal, and 1,000 acres in Badin.

“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,” it said.

The 'Green Pakistan initiative' aimed at modernising agricultural practices by bringing the concept of corporate farming into the country.

The board of management, established under the Sindh chief secretary, will take all decisions regarding land management and issues.

According to the agreement, 20 percent of the net profit will be spent on research and development in the local area while 40pc of the net profit will be paid to the Sindh government on an annual basis.

"The remaining 40pc of the company share shall also be spent on local infrastructures, irrigation channels, solar-powered water supply schemes, schools, hospitals, development schemes and other facilities in areas where such projects will be executed in Sindh," it added.

The former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir launched the first corporate farm, under the umbrella of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), in July 2023.

However, the nationalist parties in Sindh had raised their serious concern against the initiative, claiming that "the project was an 'onslaught' on the province.

“The land will not be granted as a title but will be given just for cultivation purposes. The ownership of land shall vest with the Sindh government. No local rights will be affected by the projects and no water rights of the local population shall be affected. The companies have to arrange for water resources through alternative modes rather than relying solely on irrigation channels,” the caretaker Revenue Minister Younus Dhaga said in reply to the nationalist parties' reservations.

"It shall also be ensured that no land shall be considered for this initiative which falls within the limit of any villages, katchi abadi, locality, temporary shelters, grazing land, seasonal cultivation, range, any settlement, amenity, potential mining areas, already reserved land for any public purpose, motorways, superhighways, national highways, roads, jails, railway lines, irrigation channels, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, mountain ranges, heritage sites, religious sites, graveyards, forest land, including mangroves habitats and protected forests, wastelands, wetlands, ‘dhoras’/depressions, sea creeks, river deltas, inland waters, internal waters, historical waterways, vital security installations, port and seashore," he further explained.