Dr. Zeeshan Haider
Agriculture constitutes the largest sector of our economy. The majority of the population, directly or indirectly, is dependent on this sector. It contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings. It feeds the whole rural and urban population. Realizing its importance, planners and policymakers are always keen to have reliable area and production statistics of agricultural crops well in time.
But, unfortunately, policymakers have failed instead of knowing the importance of agricultural land, thousands of acres of fertile agricultural land in major cities have been converted into housing societies. If this trend continues in a future couple of decades or so, the country’s high-yielding land would be under extreme pressure of population growth.
A rapid increase in elite housing societies in almost every major city can be seen. These localities exist like islands where residents enjoy various amenities and luxuries. They have state-of-the-art water and sanitation facilities, access to quality education and healthcare, private security, membership in elite clubs, and strong social networks. Many of these people have high stakes or involvement in politics and other forums of public decision-making. They exist in a parallel universe comparable with some of the best lifestyles in high-income countries.
There is a grim side of our cities as well, which can be seen in the form of slums, disorganized housing societies, and underdeveloped areas. The unavailability of the most basic of amenities of life, including clean water and sanitation, education, public transport, and decent housing leads to a vicious cycle of disease, unemployment, low-income levels, poverty, and conflict. There is limited social interaction between the haves and the have-nots living in the same city as most networks and opportunities for social interaction are designed to be exclusive. The voice of the downtrodden and their participation in the political process remains negligible. Eventually, the youth from such marginalized communities becomes vulnerable to be used as either tools or victims of the many forms of crimes and conflicts that are prevalent in society.
It is the bitter reality that we need more housing units with the rise in population but it is injustice with our agricultural land that is being used for this purpose. We must learn from other countries like Singapore where plain land is not available, the structures are built vertically. Horizontal structures are the death of our generative and arable lands.
It is very sad that by developing societies on fertile land, we compromise bio-diversity, landscaping, and irrigation infrastructure.
The same is done with the most favorite land of Gujranwala near Gakhar Mandi and Ahmad Nagar Chattha where the Defense Housing Society (DHA) is being constructed. This was a golden land for rice crop. Rice was being exported to Iran and USA from this area.
This unchecked demarcation of gated colonies has forced the moneymakers to cut 7 housing units only in my village Ahmad Nagar where the total population is just 30,000 and 67 percent of people rely on agriculture. What can be said further for big cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Gujranwala?
Unfortunately, farmers have to toil for years to make the land suitable for plantation and it is unjust that when this land starts giving optimum production, the owners sell it to developers to earn more money.
What we are earning today by selling fertile land will strike us in serious trouble in meeting the food needs of our population already growing at the pace of around 2.43 percent annually
Along with the shrinking of fertile land, Pakistan is also facing a severe issue of climate change that has been experienced in 2022 badly. The floods in various areas of Pakistan have damaged the whole crop of Sindh and south Punjab.
The unplanned expansion of cities on productive land is also damaging fruit plants as witnessed in Multan where hundreds of mango trees were cut down for using the land for housing purpose.
Mango orchards are the beauty of South Punjab. We have best mango varieties that are also exported to other countries for earning foreign exchange.
But, in the race of constructing housing societies and earning more money, mango trees have been eliminated on hundreds of acre fertile land. A mango orchard takes years to be developed but it is cut down within hours. This is too cruel and would make us suffer in future in terms of edible items.”
I suggest that government should strictly ban the development of housing societies on fertile land and allocate them alternative and less fertile land for the purpose.
Therefore, it is imperative for the authorities to devise a mechanism wherein the developers develop societies to meet the need for housing units but not at the cost of fertile agricultural land.
In nutshell, Pakistan is an agricultural country, and there is no doubt that if we don’t do anything to protect this industry, then we will also be amongst the ones suffering; we need to protect the agricultural land as if it is used for other purposes such as development, the repercussions will have to be faced by every individual considering we will be dependent on import for the sake of daily essentials. The initiatives taken by the government have been appreciated seeing as how it is working towards the betterment of Pakistan; not only that, but due to their efforts, they have created more opportunities for farmers and given them a chance to improve their lives and standards further, this alone is a huge factor seeing as if a farmer is being well paid. Their needs are being met; they can afford education for their children, which can later benefit Pakistan. Our literacy rate will improve, our poverty rate will decrease, we will rely less on imports and can start exporting larger quantities, and the overall economy (GDP) will improve.
To meet these things, the government has to ban the irregular expansion of societies on fertile land. Otherwise, farmers will be unemployed and the real estate business will give nothing to the national exchequer. Food insecurity will be our destiny. Along with banning the construction of new societies, we also have to do something to control the population.
Farmers must win over developers for the sustainability of the country.
