ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has signed agreements with two major Chinese and Saudi Arabian agriculture players to help realise its potential to become a food basket for the Asian and Middle Eastern regions through mechanisation of its agricultural sector, WealthPK reported.
Though Pakistan has extensive fertile territory, all the four seasons, and one of the largest canal systems in the world, it has been unable to reap the benefits due to a lack of contemporary technologies.
China has already contributed significantly to helping Pakistan become a prosperous state.
Fatima Group, Pakistan’s leading industrial conglomerate, has inked two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth more than $1 billion with two major global agriculture players — China Machinery Engineering Company (CMEC) and Sarh Attaqnia Co. (SAC) of Saudi Arabia to bring innovation in Pakistan’s agriculture sector to enhance productivity.
These agreements were signed at the Pakistan Pavilion during the recently-concluded Dubai Expo 2020.
With over $1 billion in revenue, the Fatima Group is one of Pakistan’s fastest expanding industrial conglomerates, with holdings in fertilisers, energy, textiles, sugar, cement and venture capital investments, reports WealthPK.
According to an official of Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP), CMEC will assist in adopting climate-smart precision agricultural farm machinery, improved high-yielding seeds and other crop inputs.
He said Saudi Arabia’s Sarh Attaqnia Company will invest in building a cutting-edge agriculture value chain that includes sustainable grain crop production, processing, warehousing, and export marketing to secure regional food security.
“Pakistan has enormous potential in food production. The partnership with the two world’s leading firms will help the country achieve food security. We appreciate the trust and faith that our Chinese and Saudi partners have placed in us,” said the TDAP officer. He said that this milestone will pave the way for more such collaborations and investment opportunities in future.
He said the collaboration is part of the Corporate Agriculture Farming initiative to unlock a significant portion of Pakistan’s untapped land resources by bringing fallow lands under cultivation for sustainable production of crops such as rice, barley, oats, silage bales for livestock, and developing the dairy industry.
It is to mention here that the Fatima Group in collaboration with the TDAP hosted a series of events at the Pakistan Pavilion during the Dubai Expo 2020 to demonstrate Pakistan’s commitment to ensuring regional food security, agricultural innovation, and women empowerment in agriculture sector.
The TDAP official said that Fatima Group is also interested in launching joint ventures with UAE firms in the agriculture sector.
“Pakistan’s agriculture market, estimated to be worth Rs9 trillion and contributing 20% to the country’s GDP, will serve as a food basket for the entire Middle Eastern region once the UAE and Saudi firms get involved in joint ventures with Fatima Group under the auspices of TDAP,” the official said.
INP
