ISLAMABAD – Pakistan launched a project Friday to convert millions of hectares of uncultivated waste state land into cultivable land to overcome food insecurity challenges, reported Anadolu.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the Land Information and Management System – Centre of Excellence to enhance food security, according to a statement from his office.
Pakistan will convert 4.4 million hectares (10.9 million acres) out of around 9 million hectares of uncultivated land into cultivable productive land by utilising Modern Agri Technologies, it said.
“This state-of-the-art system will help optimise the agricultural production through innovative technologies and sustainable precision agricultural practices based on agro-ecological potential of land, while ensuring the well-being of rural communities and preservation of the environment,” said Sharif.
Pakistan is an agriculture-based economy with its agriculture sector contributing 23 per cent to GDP and providing employment to almost 37.4 per cent of the nation’s labour force.
Currently, the area under cultivation is decreasing while the population-production gap is increasing and agriculture-related imports touching the US$10 billion mark ultimately causing economic stress, as per official documents of the project, available to Anadolu.
According to the World Food Programme, 36.9 per cent of Pakistanis are food insecure and 18.3 per cent of that number are facing a severe food crisis.
While a wheat crisis is also increasing with total wheat demand reaching 30.8 million metric tonnes (MMT), current production is around 26.4 MMT, a shortfall of almost 4 MM.
“Cotton production has fallen by 40 per cent from 14.8 m bales to ~5mn bales over the last 10 years,” according to the documents.
With the new project, the government, along with the support of the armed forces, will enhance agricultural growth and production to utilise more than 9 million hectares of uncultivated waste state land in various phases. – Bernama
