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Corporate farming:
President's Advisor opposes leasing land to multinational
companies
ISLAMABAD (June 23 2002) : The President's Advisor on
Agriculture, Shafi Niaz, has strongly opposed the leasing out
of land to the multinational companies for corporate farming,
and cautioned that it would hurt small farmers' interests.
Cautioning of implications, the Advisor Office informed the
President that leasing out of land to the multinational
companies would be a step towards minimising the chances of
prosperity for small farmers who constitute 80 percent of
agricultural production.
Sources said the Advisor proposed that leasing out of land, if
inevitable, should be kept to local companies.
Shafi Niaz also opposed selling of land to foreign companies.
It may be noted that corporate farming plan includes provision
of selling land to foreign companies.
The Farmers' Association of Pakistan (FAP) has also expressed
concern over corporate farming and asked the government to
refrain from giving discriminatory treatment to the
multinational companies under this cover.
Khawaja Shoaib, a Multan-based progressive grower, termed it
as a dangerous development. He believes that corporate farming
would not work. He supports the idea of co-operatives to
enhance agricultural growth rather than going for corporate
farming.
Interestingly, the concept of corporate farming, a system
which suits big landlords, is being projected at a time when
the government is claiming of taking bold steps to protect the
small growers and enable them to increase their per acre
income. For this, a Food Security Programme (FSP) is being
launched across the country.
Negating the policy guidelines, the Food Ministry is a strong
supporter of corporate farming and, on its proposal, the
Federal Cabinet had allowed import of machinery at zero-rated
duty and taxes in its previous meeting. The Ministry firmly
believes that this new concept of farming is the only viable
option to increase agricultural production.
Following the Cabinet decision, the Ministry is mulling a plan
to lease out land to multinational companies for 99 years.
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com;
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