THE GOVERNMENT has launched a new strategy to address the major challenges of low agricultural production, food insecurity, and food imports. This policy is supported by the army and funded by China and the food-deficit Gulf countries.
The Land Information and Management System-Center of Excellence, which was just established, will concentrate on changing the way agriculture is carried out in Pakistan with the goal of maximizing agricultural output to increase internal food security and produce exportable surplus for the China and Gulf states.
It is supported financially by $500 million in Saudi aid. The GIS-based effort intends to improve contemporary agro-farming and utilise 22 million acres of state land that is currently uncultivated. Under LIMS, the government anticipates significant investments in agriculture from the Gulf and China.
It is maybe the first multifaceted approach intended to address three pressing issues relating to agriculture at once: increasing food insecurity, rising food and agricultural import costs, and declining export surplus. The new plan’s success is expected to significantly alleviate these problems. Although the LIMS programme is a positive move, its reach is likely to be limited to the agriculture projects it has received foreign funding for, which are primarily intended to generate exportable surplus for investing nations. Policymakers must devise strategies quickly to address long-standing, deeper structural issues like climate impact, soil erosion, land fragmentation, lower crop yields, etc. as they are tearing down Pakistan’s significant agriculture sector. According to the World Food Programme, 37 percent of Pakistanis are food insecure and one-fifth are facing a severe food crisis.
With the population expected to reach 367.8 million by 2050, this becomes even more crucial. If no action is taken today to address the situation, the strain on the food system from the growing population will only get worse in the years to come.
Since smallholder farmers make up the majority of the nation’s agricultural sector, there are only two ways to meet the rising food demand: increasing yields or expanding the amount of arable land that can be used for crop production. Pakistan needs to focus on both since the existing significant strain on the food supply chain due to climate change, which results in droughts, floods, unpredictable weather patterns, etc., will certainly rise. By 2050, the population is expected to reach 367.8 million, making this situation even more urgent. Food insecurity in the nation is expected to deteriorate in the next few years unless proactive measures are adopted, as the expanding population has already placed unsustainable strain on the food supply.
Since smallholder farmers make up the majority of the nation’s agricultural workforce, the country must either boost crop yields or add more land that may be used for agriculture in order to meet the country’s rising food demand. Pakistan needs to focus on these issues since climate change, which brings about droughts, floods, unpredictable weather patterns, etc., is anticipated to add to the system’s already significant strain.
