Pakistan Army set to start cultivation in restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for food self-sufficiency: Report

Months after it decided to carry out farming in Punjab province, the Pakistan Army is now all set to start cultivation on thousands of acres in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as part of the plans for food self-sufficiency, according to media reports on Friday.

The powerful Pakistan Army, which has ruled coup-prone Pakistan for more than half of its 75-plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy. However, it is possibly the first time that it is venturing into agriculture to club peacebuilding and activities for increasing agriculture productivity for the ever-in-turmoil province.

“As a start initially, the army would farm on 1,000 acres of land and then expand to 41,000 acres in South Waziristan’s Zarmalam area – which was barren for years – in a bid to enhance agricultural productivity of the region and promote food self-sufficiency,” The News International reported.

“This project is expected to enhance the agricultural productivity of the region and promote food self-sufficiency,” it reported and quoted the Corps Commander, Peshawar, Lieutenant General Sardar Hasan Azhar Hayat, who said the Pak Army “was determined to increase agricultural farming in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” Relatively away from the fertile Indus valley, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is nearer to the border of Afghanistan. South Waziristan is a rugged terrain with complex hills and ridges that witness hot summers and extremely cold winters.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Newly Merged Districts (NMDs) remain “one of the most impoverished regions of Pakistan.” “Economic activity in the NMDs is dominated by subsistence agriculture and livestock rearing which provides livelihoods to about 97 per cent of the population. Prolonged conflict and the resulting displacement of the local population have caused damages and losses to agricultural land and irrigation structures as well as livestock populations and animal shelters. Following the military clearance in 2015, displaced families have begun returning to their homes,” a 2021 report by FAO said.

However, for the past few years now, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been prone to terror attacks targeting security forces and civilians.

Another problem that the army is likely to face is the paucity of water as there is no irrigation system in South Waziristan and the farmers mainly depend on either rainwater or tube wells.

The News International further quoted Gen. Hayat as saying that the Army has worked together with the civil government to bring investment in minerals, agriculture, hydropower, and tourism to the province, “which is yielding positive results and employment opportunities can be created by providing more facilities for investors.” “The army’s decision to farm in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa comes after the Punjab government allocated over 45,000 acres of land to the force for a ‘Corporate Agriculture Farming’ project in the shape of a joint venture to enhance the crop yield in order to ensure food autarky in March of this year,” Geo News reported.

Stating that the army will “play a role at the management level” to make the project a success story, the Geo News report said that the ownership of the land will continue to stay with the provincial government.

“The military will not get any profit or share in the revenue to be mopped from corporate agriculture farming,” it said.