Campaign against Corporate Agriculture Farming
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Pakistan government has offered to lease 6 million acres of land to rich Gulf countries and multinational companies under its Corporate Agriculture Farming policy. This is a matter of great concern for small farmers whose livelihoods will be greatly affected by this deal.
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To discuss various dimensions of this matter and share farmers’ concerns, ActionAid’s Food Rights portfolio organised three seminars in Quetta, Karachi, and Multan. Farmers, members of the civil society and concerned citizens participated in the seminars and expressed concerns over the land deal, as according to them it would mechanize agricultural processes creating massive unemployment, increase water shortages in an already water-stressed country, and deprive small farmers of water. It will also cause land degradation, endanger the biodiversity, and intensify farmers’ poverty and food insecurity.
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The deal would also push back civil society’s struggle for land reforms and increase ownership by big landlords who already own almost half of country’s land. The participants collectively called for the government to revisit these deals and offer the land to Pakistan’s landless and small farmers particularly women.
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To further the advocacy on these demands, rallies were also organised in the three cities in which the participants stressed that government should protect and safeguard the rights of 67 percent population of the country whose very survival depends on agriculture. ActionAid in collaboration with other like-minded organisations and Parliament members will continue to support small farmers’ just demands.