Military Men Want to Kickstart Pakistan’s Green Revolution
Proponents see the involvement of the armed forces as crucial to attracting foreign investment into a key portion of a beleaguered economy. Others are less certain.
A soldier on the ramparts of Derawar Fort looking out over the Cholistan desert.
Photographer: Emeric Fohlen/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Pakistan sees farming potential amid the rolling sand dunes of Punjab’s Cholistan desert. Here, in the South Asian nation’s vast central plains, the government plans to lease massive tracts of state-owned land to overhaul an outdated agriculture sector.
But in an unusual arrangement, the military will have significant stake in the project, taking over a total expanse of as much as 4.8 million acres of land and helping to decide which individuals or global firms get parcels. That will give the army an outsize role in an industry vital to the economy and raises questions over profit made from public land, potentially at the expense of small farmers.