The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has allowed the Pakistan Army to lease 4.8 million acres of state land for “corporate agriculture farming,” The News reported.
The revelation came up during a national assembly session on August 9, when a member of the parliament asked a question about the government’s efforts to increase agricultural cultivation.
In response, MNA Rana Tanveer Hussain discussed various state projects to expand cultivation areas over the past five years.
He also revealed that the government’s Green Pakistan Initiative has identified 4.8 million acres of “barren” land across the country for corporate farming under the SIFC’s direction.
The News reported that the marked area is larger than the island of Jamaica and is approximately 9.5% of Punjab’s total land area.
The minister further stated that out of the 4.8 million acres land, almost 864,000 acres have been either shortlisted or allocated to the Green Pakistan Initiative through private sector contracts or foreign investments, while cultivation has begun on 100,500 acres of land.
According to The News, most of the designated land for corporate farming is in Punjab, with some additional areas in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A private limited company was registered in August under the GPI, and according to The News, the Pakistan Army holds over 90% of its shares.
Interestingly, last year, during a Lahore High Court case regarding the allocation of state land for corporate farming in Punjab, it was revealed that a profit-sharing mechanism would be in place. Twenty percent of the profits would be dedicated to research and development, and the remaining profits would be split 50-50 between the provincial government and the army.
In June last year, the LHC suspended the transfer of land in a ruling that stated the constitution did not allow the military to get involved in commercial ventures; however, another LHC bench later allowed the transfer of the land.
