Shrinking farmland

Sindh's environment minister has raised alarm on the fast conversion of farmlands near urban centres into housing societies, posing a serious threat to food security in the country. He has further linked the devastating floods of 2022 with climate change and said the natural calamity badly damaged the economy and the farming sector of Sindh. Housing societies swallowing up prime agricultural land has become a common practice. This issue is especially widespread in Punjab and Sindh, and addressing the commercial exploitation of agricultural land is crucial. The rapidly growing population has placed immense strain on the food system, and food insecurity is expected to escalate in the coming years unless immediate corrective measures are taken.

Given that Pakistan's agriculture sector is predominantly made up of smallholder farmers, meeting the growing food demand requires either enhancing crop yields or expanding cultivable land. The country must focus on both strategies, as climate change - leading to droughts, floods and unpredictable weather - threatens to further strain the already pressured food supply system. At the same time, the government needs to take steps to protect farmland and limit the spread of housing projects on land where agriculture has taken place for decades. Rather than expanding horizontally, such housing societies need to expand vertically to make the maximum use of land allotted. The country stands at a crossroads, either it can be driven by the greed of profit or it can secure its food supply for future generations. The government must also promote the use of uncultivated state land to enhance crop production. In addition to investing in converting large areas of wasteland into productive farmland, the government should also curb the encroachment of agricultural lands by expanding housing developments and framing laws to protect land where cultivation takes place.