Skip to main content

Pakistan’s corporate land grab: A recipe for food insecurity and displacement

By Bharat Dogra 
On World Environment Day, June 5, 2025, the international research organization GRAIN released a searing indictment of Pakistan’s current land-use policies. The report, “Gulf investors in, locals out—Pakistan’s corporate farming agenda,” lays bare how Pakistan’s powerful elite—led by military-backed institutions—are reshaping the country’s agricultural landscape in favour of foreign investors and corporate agribusinesses, especially from the Gulf region. This aggressive land acquisition drive under the so-called Green Pakistan Initiative is not just a policy misstep—it is a direct assault on local food and water security.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged as the most prominent players in this high-stakes land grab. According to GRAIN, Saudi agribusiness companies are taking over vast swathes of Pakistani farmland to develop industrial-scale cattle and dairy farms, while Emirati companies—well-versed in international farmland acquisitions—are aggressively expanding their reach in Pakistan. Nearly 400,000 hectares have already been handed over to private investors, including Chinese companies promoting genetically modified cotton and peanut monocultures meant solely for export.
Supporters of the initiative claim it will bring investment, modernize agriculture, and boost productivity. But the voices on the ground, particularly across Punjab and Sindh, tell a very different story. Local farmers’ organizations have been sounding the alarm, accusing the government of using corporate farming as a façade to enable corporate mafias to seize land and water. They fear—justifiably—that the water being diverted for these mega-projects will worsen drought conditions downstream and further marginalize smallholder farmers and pastoralists already struggling with climate stress.
Critics also warn that this corporate overhaul of agriculture is not about ensuring food for Pakistanis, but about fulfilling the food security needs of wealthier, water-scarce Gulf states. The promised benefits to local communities remain elusive. Instead, the pattern is eerily reminiscent of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), where large-scale infrastructure development brought with it widespread displacement, ecological degradation, and questionable returns for local populations.
The lack of transparency in the land allocation process adds to public distrust. Farmland is being labelled as "wasteland" to deflect criticism, but residents argue that these lands are actively used by small farmers and herders. It is highly implausible that Gulf and Chinese investors would pour billions into lands that are truly unproductive. What is more likely is that lands essential to the survival of rural communities are being reclassified and transferred without informed consent.
Opposition to this wave of corporate expansion is mounting. Recent plans to construct canals to divert water for corporate farms in Cholistan and other regions have sparked massive protests. In response, authorities were forced to temporarily suspend these canal projects. Yet, without a shift in priorities, this issue is bound to resurface—mega-farms require mega-water, and the government seems determined to find it, regardless of the cost to local communities.
This land rush comes at a time when Pakistan is reeling from multiple food security shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating floods. Instead of strengthening the resilience of small-scale agriculture—the backbone of the nation’s food supply—policy is moving in the opposite direction. Land and water, the two most critical resources for food production, are being handed over to foreign entities whose priorities lie far from the needs of Pakistan’s people.
What’s unfolding is not just an economic or environmental issue—it is a grave social injustice. By enabling the dispossession of local communities in favour of foreign profit, Pakistan is undermining its own sovereignty, deepening inequality, and risking long-term food insecurity.
It’s time for a serious rethink. Development that sidelines people is not development—it is exploitation in the name of progress.
---
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Saving Earth for Children, and A Day in 2071

Comments

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

What's behind Donald Trump's 'narco-state' accusation against Venezuela

By Manolo De Los Santos  The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a "narco-state", accusing its top leadership of drug trafficking and slapping hefty bounties on their heads for capture. This campaign, which only momentarily took a backseat, is a strategic fabrication, not a factual assessment. This accusation, particularly amplified under the Trump Administration, is a calculated smokescreen to justify a long-standing agenda: the overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the seizure of its vast oil and mineral resources. A closer examination of the facts reveals a country that has actively fought drug trafficking on its own terms and a US government with a clear and consistent history of destabilizing independent countries in Latin America.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”