Green Pakistan again?

EDITORIAL: There is no question that Pakistan desperately needs another green revolution; like the one in the 1960s that led to a tripling of food grain production, the construction of dams, and put the country on the path toward agricultural self-sufficiency.

Sadly, everything has been going downhill for the last 2-3 decades, at least, as population explosion, climate change, and a radically ignorant and corrupt political elite have combined to turn Pakistan from a net exporter into 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 agricultural sector, will fetch about $50 billion in about five years and provide employment for about four million people, is a smart idea and feasible. This is the sector where policies have perhaps the shortest gestation period, so the government can show quick results as long as it moves in the right direction and with the right speed.

First, however, it must impose a blanket ban on the conversion of farmland to housing societies. The way the real estate mafia has gotten so fat over time, grabbing land and dodging taxes and liabilities, is a story of its own. The army is firmly on board this time; indeed, the prime minister credited the army chief with “imagining this initiative”, so there is reason to hope that this freedom will eventually be reined in. Time will tell.

It will also be important to identify areas where progress is only a matter of political will and the timely and effective deployment of resources. Agriculture has two main components: ranching and livestock. Pakistan has the potential to grab a large part of the international cattle market, but fails because it cannot provide pedigree meat. And it is that it never implemented a meat quality certification mechanism without which there simply cannot be an effective commercial projection. Several administrations have talked about solving this problem, but none have gone beyond words.

When it comes to agriculture, everyone knows that we have been left behind due to our reluctance to embrace mechanization and modern technological advances. With most Pakistani farmers still relying on poor-quality seeds and old irrigation methods, it’s no surprise that the country has shrunk from exporter to importer. This problem is twofold. One reason is a lack of awareness among the farming community, most of which are still uncomfortable with abandoning their old ways in favor of modernization. That’s because of the second problem, that the government never bothered to form an overarching national narrative to bombard farmers and change their thinking.

For this vision of Green Pakistan to become a reality, it will be essential to propel this sector into the 21st century, especially as agriculture also powers the country’s main export industry. So it would not be a bad idea to reconstitute the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad to promote things like corporate agriculture and agricultural services. Agriculture was once Pakistan’s main comparative advantage.

Now that advantage is gone, leaving two-thirds of the country’s population associated with it in dire straits. Things wouldn’t have gotten so bad if the state had been shaken up sooner. But better late than never, so hopefully the government will eventually do what it takes to breathe new life into this sector. It will have a compounded positive effect on a large part of the population, the export industry and also on the economy in general.

The prime minister believes that the results will start to show in about two years. That would be very useful, because the economy no longer has room to move.

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