Corporate Farming and Rural Poverty in Pakistan

Abstract

The decision of the government of Pakistan to lease out some 1.2 million acres of its fertile land to foreign investors has raised a number of questions given the state of food insecurity at home. This is an important problem which the corporate-mind and policymakers have always chosen to ignore so far. The policy of corporate farming is involved in food production on a very large scale that would snatch a very basic source of earning from thousands of poor peasants who are already living in a situation of food insecurity. This marginalized class on the threshold of food scarcity is disinclined toward education and healthcare, which is considered as a luxury for them, this adversely impacting their economic situation and leads to yet more hunger.