Green Pakistan again?

EDITORIAL: There’s no doubt that Pakistan desperately needs another green revolution; like the one in the 1960s that led to a three-fold increase in production of food grains, construction of dams, and set the country on the road to agri self-sufficiency.

Sadly, it’s been all downhill for the last 2-3 decades, at least, as population explosion, climate change and a radically ignorant and corrupt political elite combined to turn Pakistan from a net exporter to a desperate importer of the most important agricultural items.

Now, the prime minister’s Green Pakistan initiative, which is supposed to attract foreign investment in Pakistan’s agri sector, fetch around $50 billion in about five years, and provide employment to approximately four million people is a smart, and doable, idea. This is the sector where policies have perhaps the shortest gestation period, so the government can show quick results provided it moves in the right direction and with the right speed.

First of all, though, it must place a blanket ban on conversion of agricultural land into housing societies. The way the real estate mafia has grown so fat over time, grabbing land and dodging taxes as well as accountability, is a story of its own. The military is firmly on board this time – in fact, the PM credited the army chief with “envisioning this initiative” – so there’s reason to hope that this free-wheeling will finally come under check. Time will tell.

It’s also going to be important to identify areas where progress is only a matter of political will and deploying resources in a timely and effective manner. Agriculture has two main components – livestock and farming. Pakistan has the potential to grab a big chunk of the international livestock market but fails because it cannot provide pedigree meat. And that is because it never implemented a mechanism for certifications for meat quality without which there can simply be no effective commercial outreach. Various administrations have talked about solving this problem, but none ever moved beyond words.

As regards farming, everybody knows that we have fallen behind because of our reluctance to embrace mechanisation and modern technological advances. Since most Pakistani farmers continue to rely on substandard seeds and ancient irrigation methods, it’s no surprise that the country has been reduced from an exporter to importer. This problem is two-fold. One reason is lack of awareness among the farming community, a majority of which is still uncomfortable with abandoning their old ways in favour of modernisation. That is because of the second problem, that the government never took the trouble of forming an overarching national narrative to bombard farmers with and change their thinking.

For this vision of Green Pakistan to become a reality, it will be essential to force this sector into the 21st century, especially since agriculture also feeds the country’s prime export industry. It wouldn’t be a bad idea, then, to reconstitute the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad to promote things like corporate farming and agri services. Agriculture was once Pakistan’s main comparative advantage.

Now that advantage is gone and left two-thirds of the country’s population that is associated with it in dire straits. Things would not have become this bad if only the state had been jolted earlier. But better late than never, so it is hoped that the government will finally do whatever is needed to breathe fresh life into this sector. It will have a compound positive effect on a big part of the population, the export industry and also the overall economy.

The PM believes that results will start to show in about two years. That would be very helpful, because the economy has no elbow room left anymore.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023