Saudi Arabia in talks to lease Pak farmland

[Omar1984]

Saudi Arabia in talks to lease Pak farmland ​

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to lease an area of farmland nearly twice the size of Hong Kong in a bid to ensure food security, said an official from Pakistan’s Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday.

Gulf Arab states – heavily reliant on food imports and spurred on by a spike in prices of basic commodities – have raced to buy farmland in developing nations to guarantee supplies.

“Over the last few weeks, the Saudi government has been in talks with us to lease 500,000 acres of farmland, and we are currently in the process of locating which land we could give them,” said Tauqir Ahmad Faiq, regional secretary at the ministry of agriculture, in an interview.

In April, Pakistan said it would offer foreign investors 1 million acres of farmland for lease or sale, and deploy special security forces to protect it.

“The land we will provide Saudi Arabia will be divided among the four provinces and they will be using it to grow a variety of produce such as wheat, fruits and vegetables,” said Faiq over the telephone from Lahore.

“We are expecting a Saudi delegation to arrive after Ramzan to further discuss the deal and see the land, but there is no set date when the deal will be signed.”

Saudi Arabia, which consumes 2.6 million tonnes of wheat a year, is abandoning a project to produce the grain domestically as water supplies run dry. reuters

 

[Musalman]

Leasing agriculture land to saudis will be a fatal mistake for Pakistan

 

[Omar1984]

Leasing agriculture land to saudis will be a fatal mistake for Pakistan

I agree. Our economy is run on agriculture and Pakistan has seen problems in the past like wheat shortages that caused trouble for our people. Pakistan's population is growing and we need to keep our fertile land for Pakistanis.

 

[WarProfessor]

Am I missing something here? Wouldn't it be more convenient for Saudis to buy farm produce from Pakistan than lease the land and farm and manage themselves?

 

[Omar1984]

Am I missing something here? Wouldn't it be more convenient for Saudis to buy farm produce from Pakistan than lease the land and farm and manage themselves?

Saudis will not lift a finger. They'll hire Pakistanis who will work for cheap to farm the land. Saudis dont farm, they just count their money they get from their oil.

 

[WarProfessor]

Saudis will not lift a finger. They'll hire Pakistanis who will work for cheap to farm the land. Saudis dont farm, they just count their money they get from their oil.

Exactly what I am talking about. They don't have to, all they need is a treaty with Pakistan to guarantee their supply. And guarded by security personnel? I maybe dreaming, but if you happen to see the farmers are Chinese, you let me know buddy, Ok? Or if you dig around the Saudi leased land and find a nuke, you let me know.

 

[TOPGUN]

Leasing agriculture land to saudis will be a fatal mistake for Pakistan

I second that forsure wat is this gov thinking dumber then dumber

 

[Righteous_Fire]

Pak Soil should not be treated as a commodity, it is not for sale or for lease!

If their is land that is cultivable, it is far more prudent to grow crops on it and sell them rather than selling our soil. Economically, it is against our interests.

This must be stopped. All Pakistanis should raise a voice against this.

Pakistan's soil is Pak, it is sacred, treat it with respect, the least of which is not to sell or lease it. These are pieces our motherland for God's sake.

 

[Elmo]

Why aren't we looking at it from an economic point of view... we take millions of dollars in aid and as re-imbursement for our efforts in the war on terror, which is not even backed by the majority of the people.

We will be giving Saudi Arabia to use our soil and they'll pay us money in return. There will be no threat of a "takeover" of our resources either. You won't be faced with a dilemna of not having public support or doing something that will garner scathe from the citizens.

You get good money, the government is moved to improve on the existing irrigation system and works on converting arid regions into arable land, and it works for the benefit of locals and foreigners. And of course, you make a quick buck that will help cover budget deficits in the short- and long- term.

 

[Jamshed]

I think it will be a great decision .. the ppls criticizing here dont even have knowledge of agriculture. as my family belongs to rural area of sindh and my father have agriculture land dats y i know how beneficial it will be for pak.
see first by leasing or sellin 500000 acres pakistan will get approximatly 4-5 billion dollars as current price of land per acre in pak is about 5-6 lakhs for locals so to saudi they should atleast sell at 7-8 lakhs which will give abt 4.5 to 5 billion dollars and second they will also be giving operational cost to pak every year which will be a gud foreign exchange and in exchange pak will use its urea and pesticides and water and an other thing is that in current system of pak the yeild of crops is divided half to land owner and half to farmer so it means saudi will give price equivalent to half of the yield as it belong to farmer so in total they will just get the final product and they will still pay atleast 65% of the price of that product . on other hand it will provide job oppertunities as more farmers will be getting land to cultivate and also they will establish R&D to increase the output of crops which currently pakistan dont have and they are getting much lower output from best agriculture land they have.

 

[warlock21]

Leasing farmlands is like corporatization of Agriculture...... this will make Rich people more Rich and Poor become more poorer.......

But if it is used Honestly then corporate Farming can Generate huge employment for Locals as well as Local Industry........

Honesty in the sense no Political Back door deal...... other wise it is as good as writing SOLD for the Country and CountryMan

 

[Comet]

It is a bad decision to lend Pakistani Farms. If we sell product we will earn more than what we'll get by giving away our land.

The world is moving towards corporate farming and this is part of it.

 

[Hyde]

leasing the land i guess is no problem to Saudi's. They just don't care about anything and will deploy our own Pakistani labour force to work and irrigate the land for them means employment to poor formers + that land will be used to irrigate food that could be sent back to Saudi Arabia and saudi arabia can also sell part of that food to us if it desires so there should be less food shortage that way and on top of that our government will be receiving $$$ for leasing that land to them and at the end the Land belongs to the government of Pakistan and not the Saudi's.

Selling the land is a big mistake and all of us should raise a voice against this decision. At one perspective people will get jobs but still not a good decsision maybe future when our economy is stable we can irrigate that part of land ourself and fullfil the requirements of our poor Pakistanis.

 

[nwmalik]

if managed properly without kickbacks it may be very beneficial

 

[Cheetah786]

I think it will be a great decision .. the ppls criticizing here dont even have knowledge of agriculture. as my family belongs to rural area of sindh and my father have agriculture land dats y i know how beneficial it will be for pak.
see first by leasing or sellin 500000 acres pakistan will get approximatly 4-5 billion dollars as current price of land per acre in pak is about 5-6 lakhs for locals so to saudi they should atleast sell at 7-8 lakhs which will give abt 4.5 to 5 billion dollars and second they will also be giving operational cost to pak every year which will be a gud foreign exchange and in exchange pak will use its urea and pesticides and water and an other thing is that in current system of pak the yeild of crops is divided half to land owner and half to farmer so it means saudi will give price equivalent to half of the yield as it belong to farmer so in total they will just get the final product and they will still pay atleast 65% of the price of that product . on other hand it will provide job oppertunities as more farmers will be getting land to cultivate and also they will establish R&D to increase the output of crops which currently pakistan dont have and they are getting much lower output from best agriculture land they have.

You are absolutly right Saudi are known for there R&D all over the world And i have a question for you can you Buy land in Arabia.