Agri, defence, IT and mines sectors: Saudi Arabia invests $0.5bn under SIFC so far

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has made half a billion dollars investment under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) so far since its formation on June 17, 2023, and also showed keen interest to make more investment in days to come, well-placed sources revealed.

The sources further maintained that Saudi Arabia including other foreign investors wants to invest in Pakistan in four sectors, including agriculture being the top priority followed by defence production, information technology, mines and minerals.

An agriculture information management system will be inaugurated Friday (July 7).

The initiative of the SIFC would be used to promote agriculture and attract investment for modern farming and technology integration in this sector.

“Land Information and Management System (LIMS) is a step in the right direction taken by Government of Pakistan and Pakistan Army for promotion of modern agriculture,” the source further maintained.

Pakistan has the 11th largest agricultural land in the world with a total area of 79.6 million acres, of which, 24.1 million acres are cultivated and 9.1 million acres are vacant.

The sources further stated that the government intends to transform ties with friendly countries under the SIFC so that they invest in Pakistan rather than provide aid.

Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture contributes 23 per cent of GDP to the country's economy while providing employment to 37.4 per cent of labourers and farmers.

Historically, Pakistan's first green revolution project was launched in the 1960s, which tripled grain production by introducing new technology, canal systems, seeds and chemical fertilizers which increased wheat production by 79 per cent, earlier production was 3.7MMT and after the green revolution it increased to 6.8MMT.

In comparison, Pakistan’s agricultural production today is below average.

The price of agricultural imports reaching 10 billion is also causing many problems for the country's economy.

According to the World Food Programme, 36.9 per cent of Pakistanis are suffering from food shortage and 18.3 per cent of Pakistani people are facing food shortage emergencies.

Today, the demand for wheat in Pakistan has exceeded 30.8 million tons, while the current production is less than 26.4 million tons, besides, cotton production has also fallen by 40 per cent in the last 10 years.

Due to all these problems and difficulties, the sources added that the Pakistan army has “reclaimed the wasted land” to refertilise the nine hectors of wasted country land using modern agriculture and cultivation.

In this regard, Land Information and Management System has been established under the supervision of the Director General Strategic Projects. The main objective is to rehabilitate and stabilise waste and uncultivated land.

This revolutionary movement will work on land, crops, weather, water resources and pest control under one roof.

Experts from various fields, resources and reserves, modern technology and proper use of irrigation system will bring such development in Pakistan's agriculture which will not only meet the shortage of food in every region of the country but also its storage can also be done.

Based on information and analytics, it will be easier to identify difficulties, obstacles and challenges, find appropriate solutions and take informed decisions.

LIMS has recently initiated several modern farming projects, the total amount of land identified so far is 4.4 million acres of which 1.3 million acres are in Punjab, 1.3 million acres in Sindh, 1.1 million acres are in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 0.7 million acres in Balochistan.

Worldwide 80 per cent of hybrid batches are used which increases production by 30 to 50 per cent, currently, eight per cent hybrid batches are being used in Pakistan. The requirement of batches in Pakistan is 1.7 million tons while the available batch is only 0.77 million tons.

The sources further said that efforts are also being made to speed up the completion of canal projects in Thar, Thal, and Kuchi Canal.

New canals should be built to conserve flood water and modern irrigation techniques such as modular drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and pivot irrigation should be implemented.

Many projects are being partnered with Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, which will definitely increase Pakistan's exports. The areas of cooperation with various countries include agriculture, crops, wheat, cotton, rice, sunflower, fruits, poultry, solar systems, and wind energy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023