For the past several years, Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT), in collaboration with other peasant and anti-imperialist movements, the Roots for Equity, Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PAN AP), and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), has been celebrating March 29th as the International Day of Landless People. The aim of commemorating this day is to highlight the struggles of small and landless peasants for food sovereignty and genuine agrarian reforms worldwide. It also includes exposing the oppression, coercion, and exploitation by multinational corporations and the imperialist countries representing them, as well as the governments of Third World countries.

Currently, the world, especially Pakistan, is in the grip of a severe economic and environmental crisis. Millions of people, especially the working class, are suffering from extreme poverty, unemployment, and hunger. Even in such a dire conditions, imperialist countries, especially the United States continue to worsen the situation through institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, and WTO. At the same time, they are pushing the situation further downwards. Simultaneously, they are engaged in environmental destruction, looting, and occupying land, water, oceans, forests, minerals, and other natural resources through war and militarization. The Zionist Israel’s genocide of Palestinian people and occupation of Palestinian land at the behest of the U.S. is one such example.

The people of Pakistan, particularly rural communities, are victims of these conditions. In Mansehra and other districts, local populations are being denied access to forests. In Peshawar, land is being taken from local communities under the guise of development projects. In the name of “Green Initiatives,” thousands of acres of land in Punjab and Sindh have been allocated for corporate agriculture. The path has already been paved for multinational corporations to take over the dairy and livestock sector, which includes banning open and fresh milk and promoting companies’ packaged milk. Additionally, genetically modified seeds are being promoted, which guarantee huge profits for seed giant companies. Similarly, huge corporations like PepsiCo have been given thousands of acres of land to produce potatoes, displacing small and landless farmers who are now forced to work as low-wage laborers. The potato seed on this land is owned by the corporation itself.

The digitalization of the food system, exemplified by the “Kissan Card”, represents a dangerous shift toward free market policies, allowing not only agrochemical corporations but also to financial and IT corporations to take over agriculture production.

The increase in sugarcane production is a serious concern since it has pushed landless peasants into the throes of severe hunger and poverty. It also been used for agro-fuel production as a false solution to climate change.  Due to the cultivation of sugarcane, important food crops like wheat are being greatly affected. The profit driven motives of corporations and imperialist agents are fully supported by the feudal class of the country.

The people, already struggling for survival, and now the ruling elite has announced the construction of six new canals from the Indus River. The province of Sindh, especially Lower Sindh, is already a victim of un-just water distribution; the construction of the newly announced canal will further aggravate the situation, leading to large-scale protests against it.

Another grim development for the people suffering from hunger and landlessness is the federal government’s decision to abolish the minimum support price of wheat for 2024-2025 under the IMF conditionality. This policy will be devastating for small and landless farmers. Many farmers argue that even the previous year’s support prices set by the government were insufficient to cover their cost of production, but now handing over the price determination to the free market will break their backs. Turning a blind eye to these extremely negative impacts on millions of farmers is another ruthless policy.

It is evident that the government is implementing neo-liberal policies instead of protecting the interests of farmers, especially small and landless farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, rural women, youth, and children. This has resulted in mass destruction of the working class.

PKMT remains firmly committed to fight for the rights of small and landless peasants and the working class. We will continue the struggle for food sovereignty, advocating for just and equitable distribution of land while ensuring the right to save and plant local and indigenous seeds, rejecting corporate control in food and agriculture. We stand in solidarity with the working class and will expose feudal, capitalist, and corporate land grab while promoting systems that empower local communities to control and manage land, forests, mountains, seas, and other natural resources.

Release by: Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT)

We, peasants, farmers, farmworkers, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk, pastoralists, herders, rural women, rural youth and children, along with our organizations, coalitions, networks, and allies in civil society organizations, reaffirm the anti-imperialist position and the centrality of the peasant struggle for land, food, and justice in achieving sustainable agriculture and food for all. 

We recognize that the clear onslaught of imperialism in its many forms in the Global South, has caused immense poverty, hunger, has displaced millions of rural poor from their homes and communities, and has impeded their development as nations.  

We register our collective objection and resistance to US-led wars and militarism; its expanding corporate and private capture of the world’s resources such as lands and waters, and; the co-optation of climate-recovery solutions for data-mining, data-management, and appropriating resources for such. 

We oppose the US-backed Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Yemenis that continues to expand especially in Gaza despite reaching ceasefire agreements. And we decry its pivot to Asia Pacific, priming the region for war against China with ally states by building its military bases, clinching security agreements and military partnerships that embolden “counter-insurgency” programs, and holding big war exercises. 

We reiterate that imperialist expansion and capture of communities and food systems facilitated through technology, greenwashing, and supposed “carbon-offsetting” practices put market interest first before genuine development. The infrastructure needed for these  so-called “sustainable” and “smarter alternatives” displace  peasants and the rural poor from their land, uses up water resources and critical minerals needed by countries to build industries for their own development. These so-called “green-technologies” are not just directly involved in land grabbing and appropriating prime agricultural lands, forests and Indigenous Peoples’ sacred mountains for commercial and private use, they also rob our people of the right to development and the right to self-determination.  

We condemn governments’ sweeping neoliberal programs that convert land from sites of self-sustaining food production to serving corporate agricultural demand for profit that not only disrupt established farming practices but also displace and further marginalize underserved communities. 

We highlight the cases of rural people fleeing their homes and farms due to militarization in the countryside and how this is precisely coordinated with counterinsurgency campaigns by governments to inhibit peoples’ political expressions. Making use of advanced technology including its massive data gathering to surveil those engaged in agricultural-based labor, governments and its favored giant corporations collaborate in militarizing rural areas that help facilitate land grabs for so-called green projects, mining of critical minerals, and the corporate capture of food systems. It is clear that military expansion and agricultural digitalization go hand-in-hand in rationalizing the profit-driven production rather than collective nutrition and national development.

We clarify our position for technological advancements that genuinely uplift peoples’ lives and fairly distribute the fruit of peoples labor rather than prioritize private profit and becoming a subsidiary market for weapons development for war and mass coercion. In this case, war has even come to weaponize hunger itself. The technological developments of the latter kind must be clearly revealed as destructive, exploitative, and severely damaging to both the people and the environment. 

And lastly, we push and call for international solidarity of rural peoples and peasants with progressive pro-farmers organizations in the Global North to build and strengthen a broad resistance to the corporate driven climate crisis which is being packaged today to push for neoliberal reforms at the state level, as well as to the wars and militarism that ravage rural communities in the Global South. 

In this year’s Day of the Landless, we, the undersigned, reaffirm our commitment to arousing, organizing and mobilizing our ranks and the broad peasant masses as a formidable force against imperialism. Only through our collective efforts and action can we achieve just demands for land, food and justice. 

Our calls: 

Peasants rise for land!

Intensify peasant struggle against imperialist plunder, war and militarism!

Assert our rights to our resources!

Reclaim our food systems! 

#DOTL2025

In 2023, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition, World Report 2024 released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, an estimated 28.9 percent of the global population that is, 2.33 billion people were moderately or severely food insecure. This include 10.7 percent of the population – 864 million people who faced severe levels of food insecurity.

The crippling situation has not been created in just a day – it is the consistent promotion of imperialist neoliberal policies that have pushed for trade liberalization in food and agriculture, not to mention the killer conditionalities coerced by the IMF standby agreements in many parts of the world.

A significant growth, 16.8 percent has been reported in the production of wheat, cotton, and rice crops, and the sector improved its share in gross domestic production; agricultural sector growth of 6.3 percent was the highest in 19 years. The government of Pakistan continues to earn huge foreign exchange reserves, all through the back-breaking labor of peasants, a vast majority of whom include landless farmers, including women. However, it is indeed shameful that poverty rate in Pakistan has increased from 38.6 percent to 39.5 percent over the last five years, with food prices sky high, making basic food items to be beyond the reach of the poverty-stricken masses.

While the peasantry, and the urban poor face hunger and malnutrition, the government guards the interest of traders and investors such that it continues to import wheat grains from abroad, while pushing prices down for local wheat, pushing small and landless farmers in debt and bondage, left to face hunger and misery.

With more than 24 standby agreements with the IMF, the nation’s debt keeps soaring; it has increased by around Rs. 4.64 trillion in the past months. While the people of Pakistan suffer from monstrous policies protecting the imperialist and local elites, the scenario is no different in other part of the world.

The ongoing imperialist wars of aggression in occupied Palestine for the past 12 months has now spread to Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and is fast marching toward Iran. The destruction of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank knows no bounds; 70% of agricultural land being wasted through direct bombing and toxic chemicals; farmers are killed persecuted and their means of production such as water wells, trees including centuries old olive trees are deliberately destroyed; fisher folk are forbidden access to the seas. All this is part of the genocide happening in Occupied Palestine, and has been part and parcel of the US-led Zionist fascist regime for more than 7 decades.

The unchecked carbon emissions from our colonizers over many centuries has given rise to climate crisis. Globally, and particularly in Pakistan, it is starkly evident that climate change has vastly negative impact on food security especially for rural communities and a variety of climate change impacts such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes.

The solution lies in not putting the country up for sale and taking dictation from international financial institution like IMF, but for building self-reliance in food and agriculture and national industry. It is critical at this juncture that we adopt food sovereignty as the base for our food and agriculture policy; making the voice and decision making of small and landless farmers, especially women in policy development and implementing, making just and equitable land distribution a priority can help the country to break the shackle of debt and pauperization, and also help in establishing a national industry, prosperity and food security.

Release by: Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT)

The country is going through a period of dismal debt and economic crisis that is further worsened by the climate crisis. Government policies do not necessarily help in alleviating the dire situation. While the government had been expecting a bumper wheat crop, and directives were given for ‘good price’ for the farmers, and ensure availability of the staple crop in the market, the final result can be considered anything but successful. While the crop itself was damaged due to heavy rains in parts of Pakistan, there were bureaucratic delays in setting procurement centers in various points in Sindh, resulting in farmers selling their produce at PKR 3,500/40kg, which was much less than the government procurement price of PKR 4,000/40kg. According to another report, the procurement price set by Sindh government was at PKR 4,600/40kg.

In Punjab, farmers also voiced their dissatisfaction with the support price set by the Punjab government at PKR 3,900/40kg, which was the same as last year. According to news reports, millers and stock buyers were offering PKR 2,800/40kg as compared to the official support price of PKR 3,900/40kg.

Rich farmers’ representatives like the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), have rejected the price set by the Sindh government. The economic and debt crisis has led to huge price increase for agriculture inputs including chemical fertilizers, petrol and diesel, and even though with a good bumper crop, farmers suffered losses due to traders’ monopoly. Farmers in Punjab, as well as the Pakistan Business Forum also critiqued the high input prices, while also pointing out the possibility of wheat smuggling by hoarders and smugglers. Sindh Abadgar Itehad (SAI) has also accused the agriculture extension department of corruption having ‘stomached’ PKR 4 billion that had been earmarked for flood impacted farmers in 2022, and has demanded a ‘high-profile inquiry’ for misuse of public funds. Allegations against corporations have been levied for charging over-market prices for fertilizer. These allegations do have credence as an inquiry by the Com­p­­etition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has revealed that the fertilizer sector secured a whopping subsidy on gas to the tune of Rs152 billion but never passed the benefits on to the consumers.

In addition, the supply of bardana has been curtailed and hence farmers were unable to sell wheat at government set support price. What is to come in future is clear from Balochistan government’s announment that starting from next year, it will not provide bardana to the farmers but support them to buy the bags from the market. Such measures leaves farmers wide open to market shocks, a market that is monopolized by the rich and the powerful.

Before wheat harvest had started, government had allowed the private sector to import about 3.2 million tons of wheat. Unlike the farmers, millers were happy with the government’s policy allowing wheat import by the private sector, as according to them, it has given them freedom from ‘Sindh government’s blackmailing practices.’ Whether, these allegations are true or not, there is no disputing the fact that the bulk of small farmers have suffered hugely through increased agriculture input prices as well as lack of government support in selling their harvest, and falling wheat grain prices in the market; all of these factors have combined in pushing them further into debt and increased hunger, especially landless farmers and the urban poor.

Apart from the wheat fiasco, there is general crisis in the agriculture sector. The agriculture growth target of 3.5 percent set for 2023-24, is in doldrums due to ongoing rains impacting major crops including wheat. Other Rabi crops such as mustard and canola, and gram have also suffered, though sugarcane is expected to benefit. On one hand, there is high input cost, while on the other hand, the commodity prices for major crops such as wheat, cotton and maize have dropped by 25%. The protests by the farming community seem to have been heard, but really to no avail. The final conclusion by political big wigs was that the caretaker government was at fault, as it had allowed for the import of wheat in the first place.

One can point out the fact that it is the elected government that has increased gas prices causing an increase of urea price by around PKR 1,000/bag. This step is going to impact cotton yield, as famers will not be in a position to cultivate the cotton crop to the capacity required. It is being reported that the outlook for the upcoming cotton crop is not very promising due to difficult weather conditions, irrigation water scarcity, and the sky rocketing prices for agricultural inputs. Cotton contributes more than 60 percent to the total national exports, and ultimately this further hike in production cost will result in lower cotton yields impacting industrial production.

An interesting editorial in DAWN points out the fallacy of allowing support provided to farmers on wheat production, as it diverts farmers attention from value added crops to wheat; instead of providing support to farmers on wheat production, there should be complete deregulation of the wheat economy and linking it to the global grain market.

Such policy emphasis of course comes from those who support monopoly capital, and are heedless to escalating food prices which leaves millions suffering from hunger and grinding poverty. Actors pursuing neoliberalism and free market ideology are also not bothered about the millions of small and landless farmers who have played a pivotal role in wheat production, but are unable to buy the grain for their households. It should be noted that raw food exports that continued to expand in March, with a 16.35 percent increase to $685.03 million, up from $588.76m in the same month last year, has led to high food prices for local population.

Might is Right!

For many decades now, there has been unabating pressure from international financial institutions to adopt neoliberal policies for economic growth, including in the agriculture sector. From digital agricultural loans to farmers through organizations like Karandaaz (a non-profit receiving funds from Melinda & Bill Gates, that promotes digitalization of financial services including digitalization of the tax system), to modern agriculture warehousing through Electronic Warehousing Receipt (EWR) financing, all measures that allows agricultural commodities to be traded nationally and internationally. Digital marketing is in essence for the richest segment of farmers in the agriculture economy, and marginalizes the small and landless farmers.

In the same vein, there is continued push for enabling environment for private sector investment in aquaculture value chains for national and international markets. VC Dr. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad, Vice Chair Faisalabad Agriculture University has also urged the private sector to invest in high-efficiency irrigation.

Trade liberalization in agricultural production continues, allowing corporate farming and joint ventures with other countries. According to Saudi Arabia, Saudi agriculture corporations are interested in joint ventures for improving value chains in the agriculture sector, with a lofty vision of Pakistan becoming a ‘bread basket for the kingdom’ as well as for the entire region.

Pakistan and Iran are also bolstering their trade relationship, with annual trade volume to be increased to $10 billion. The relationship has been stagnating under the impact of geopolitics directed by trade sanctions by the US on Iran. While, Pakistan is on a path to increasing trade with Iran, US and Pakistan have renewed a key framework to promote bilateral trade, the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

It is indeed interesting that though free market economy seems to be the bible for international trade forcefully thrust by US and other G7 economies, but when it comes to trading with Iran, a different beat is heard. Pakistan and Iran’s bilateral trade plans, especially in context to “setting up of joint border markets, economic free zones, and new border openings”, is raising hackles in certain quarters, The US Department of State has been warning Pakistan about trade with Iran, to the extent of sanctions that are designed for putting an end to political and economic relations with Iran. Hence a ‘free market economy’ is not really a free market economy, but hinged on dictates of those in power. No doubt, the idiom ‘might is right,’ is based on such show of political and military strength, often used by imperialist forces.

It is noteworthy that Pak­istan’s merchandise ex­­ports to United States has come down by 10.14 percent to $3.63 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year from $4.04 billion over the corresponding period last year. At the same time, Pakistan’s exports to China increased by 42 percent; it has increased to $1.895 billion in July-February FY24 from $1.334 billion over the corresponding period last year.

According to Punjab Livestock Secretary, Masaud Anwar, Pakistan has come to terms with China for exporting dairy products to China through a state-of-the-art farm developed in Sheikhupura.

In short, there is a continued shift in Pakistan’s trade pattern, where it is now trading more and more within the region; whether this trend will continue in the long term is yet to be determined.

At the same time, the role of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in attracting investors to Pakistan remains central. Investors from UAE, Saudi Arabia continue to be in dialogue with Ministry for Finance and Revenue. At the same time, there is also invitation to Australia and France for investing in the country.

Climate Imperialism?

There is no doubt that Pakistan is facing diabolical damages based on climate change. Though the government bureaucracy is accepting the fact, and at least making speeches for addressing the issue, the context of putting the blame for this havoc on western industrialized nations carbon emissions seems to be lacking. According to the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, climate change impact was emerging in shape of water scarcity and could be addressed through introducing new cropping patterns that includes low delta crops aimed at reducing water consumption and increasing efficiency in agriculture. Mitigations could also be carried out by introducing agricultural water conservation practices that could also include drip irrigation, sprinkle system, dry farming, conservation tillage and other methods.

Given the extreme dearth of water resources in the country, it is worth pointing out that Coca-Cola, a corporation that faces not only boycott but is also responsible for using up extensive water reserves has invested $22 million in the beverage sector, specifically in technology upgrade, capacity enhancement of its export potential, and employment for over half a million local professionals along its chain.

In the end, the focus is on imported technology, and promotion of the same model of industrial development which is responsible for the catastrophic climate crisis. Our policy makers are blind to the rich source of local and indigenous knowledge embedded in our communities; the fact that the immense wealth generated by the agriculture sector is hinged on the immensely powerful productive force of small and landless farmers is totally ignored.

At the same time, the failure of government bureaucracy is abysmal. For instance, the Sindh Chief Secretary has acknowledged before the Sindh High Court that the timelines for implementation of Supreme Court-appointed water commission could not be met. There were still 769 points from where different departments had been releasing waste into freshwater bodies. Such negligence in context to water sources is criminal lack of accountability seems to be the order of the day.

After decades of pursuing a free-market economy the economic strength of the country, and social condition of the Pakistani population, especially rural communities, the low-income urban masses continues to deteriorate. There is no doubt that the austere economic policies dictated by the international financial organizations are for the benefit of corporations and investors, not for the people. What is the way out is a question which need to be asked and answers sought.

Much of the world’s population is still the rural productive class–encompassing farmers, rural women and youth, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, and rural-semi proletariats. They are the most peripheralized social sector by imperialism who are subject to grave inhumane living conditions, facing the joint onslaught of feudalism and corporate capture. At the front of which is US imperialism and its increasingly violent, extremely militarized, aggressive maneuvers across the globe that cuts through economics, geopolitics, and mass media and culture, advocating for US “democracy” characterized by free market rhetoric. 

Three main factors under the banner of US imperialism directly afflict the peasantry: (1) imperialist plunder and exploitation marked by monopolization of land, waters, and productive resources such as seeds, farm inputs, agricultural technology, markets, and entire chains of food systems; (2) erosion and curtailment of their democratic rights, especially in the face of struggle for peasant and indigenous rights, the states’ responses (represented by indigenous collaborators and the ruling local elites) are on-ground violent and fascistic maneuvers against the rural masses completely subservient to the interests of imperialist expansion, and; (3) imperialist wars and aggression, the hall mark of course being the most heinous crimes against humanity in the 21st century being carried out in occupied Palestine whose people remain victimized by the US and the Zionist entity’s genocidal war. Climate imperialism crops up as an urgent dimension of wars, affecting global food systems, conditions of production, and human life.

So long as the peasantry is displaced and forcibly separated from their means of production–land and waters–which are both economically and symbolically linked to rural well-being and development, the rural folk is pushed to poverty, hunger, and social-, political-, and economic-marginalization. Rural communities are the most vulnerable sector to both outbreaks of bourgeois state wars as well as the assault of natural calamities. As direct producers of the world’s food and reproducers of necessary labor power, the whole of humanity has a stake in the peasants’ primary struggle for land, a struggle that will also determine just and lasting peace, social justice, and a genuinely democratic world system. 

The profit-driven model perpetuated by big imperialist powers is unsustainable, exploitative, oppressive, and responsible for the grinding poverty of the working class. Amassing wealth is hinged to overproduction, hunger wages, and joblessness. In the semi-feudal, semi-colonial countries, the collusion between the comprador class and imperialists has led to escalating national debt and the resulting IMF conditionalities have forced downgrading local production, exacerbating the exploitation of the working class with long hours of work, contract work, piece-rate work, and working for pittance. Women face massive exploitation, domestic and state violence, especially with worsening economic and social conditions bred through the implementation of neoliberal policies. Privatization and deregulation have wiped out social security, leaving the most vulnerable populations including elderly, the disabled and children without access to health and allied care. Critical basic needs including shelter, food, water, energy, transportation, education are now beyond the reach of the urban poor; no doubt working-class women face the brunt of the atrocities that monopoly capital has unleashed. At the same time, the imperialist structures hand-in-hand with oppressive elite authoritarian regimes in the neo-colonies have been increasingly using authoritarian and fascist tactics to try and subdue peoples struggles and resistance to corporate and feudal control. 

Though capitalism is the main hurdle to genuine sustainable development as well as threatening the well-being of the planet, it continues desperately to mask this fundamental contradiction; an effort at hand is the United Nations organized Summit of the Future (SOTF) on September 23-24, 2024. Supposedly, the SOTF aims to get the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track but the current draft of the Pact for the Future — a negotiated political declaration of the SOTF – has nothing more to offer than continued promotion and implementation of neoliberalism, export-oriented growth, and investment liberalization. Climate imperialism through climate finance remains on the agenda, while no recourse is provided for its lust of highly destructive fossil fuel-dependent production. Economic development remains hinged to promotion and use of digital and automated technologies, a death knell for the working classes and the peasantry. The people of the world are not ignorant of the SOTF aims which are to further consolidate and deepen corporate monopoly control over global governance through multistake-holderism, hinged on a public-private partnership between the UN and transnational corporations or TNCs,  and create more profit-making through science, technology, and innovation or STI (the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution), which monopoly capital falsely presents as a cure to the multiple crises that are the mark of imperialism. 

To combat the neoliberal false solutions of the Summit of the Future, The Global Peoples’ Caravan for Food, Land, and Climate Justice (GPC), launched in 2023, is hosting a Peoples Summit to produce a Rural Peoples’ Development Agenda to raise the people’s demands for land, life and livelihood against imperialism and feudal reaction. ILPS is proud to sponsor this Peoples’ Summit in the fight to build a united front for the oppressed and exploited masses to forward their future through grassroots struggles, campaigns, and policy advocacies. No doubt, a bright future for the working class, the peasantry and all marginalized sections of society is only possible through seeking self-reliance in national economy, overthrowing the shackles of oppressive regimes and imperialist powers. It is only possible through national struggles as well as through organized united fronts that seek social and national liberation, fighting for climate justice, freedom from debt, hunger and poverty, and just and lasting peace.

Recently, over 500 feminist leaders from 38 countries across Asia and the Pacific region gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the 4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2024) to deliberate upon their collective journeys for building a world that is free of patriarchy, corporate capitalism, imperialism and colonialism, militarism and religious fundamentalism.
A feminist fossil-fuel free world is one where development justice is a reality for everyone. In other words, in a feminist world, a socially just and ecologically sustainable way of life for everyone (and our planet) becomes a reality.

They analyzed the current systemic and structural oppressive forces behind injustices prevailing in the region; envisioned a feminist world that is free, just and able to support all of us on this planet, leaving no one behind; and explored the strategies needed to create such a feminist world order based on the development justice model.

Where are we today?

Over the last 40 years or so, the global economic and political system dictated by corporate capitalism has defined a development model that has channeled wealth, power and resources from the working peoples to the rich (less than 1% of global population), and from developing countries to a few wealthy countries. It has increased forced labour migration and caused finance, environment, food and energy crises which continue to devastate lives in the Global South.

Corporate capture is abetted by militarism

Azra Talat Sayeed, a firebrand development justice activist and Executive Director of Roots for Equity, calls corporate capture to be akin to imperialism. Imperialism is defined as a state policy and practice of extending power and dominance especially by territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. And this is exactly what corporations do- they get hold of our resources, our markets and the people.

For Azra, out of the two aspects of imperialism – economic control and militarism- the latter is the key issue confronting us today. “Militarism is used as a social tool to extend territory and gain strong economic and political advantages. An unholy alliance between military of the state, the state’s bureaucracy and the defense corporations guides government policies. But we rarely talk about the defense corporations and/or the defense industry. These defense corporations are minting a lot of profit from killing people, and looting our communities,” points out Azra.
In fact as per a report, revenue earned by the top 25 defense corporations in 2022 was USD 407.8 billion.
Latest data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that total global military expenditure reached US$ 2.4 Trillion in 2023 – an increase of 6.8% from 2022. This was the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009. The 10 largest spenders in 2023—led by the United States, China and Russia—all increased their military spending.

Compared to this, UN’s regular and peacekeeping budget for 2023 was US$ 3.4 billion which is a mere 0.15% of US$ 2.4 Trillion. Another point of interest is that USA, UK, and France which are among the top 10 military spenders, are also members of the UN Security Council, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the most powerful of the G7 countries.
Azra rues that, “How can we think of having peace, when these countries are reflected in the peace keeping measures as Security Council members. Everybody talks about violence, but nobody talks of the violence of corporations, of militarism, of imperialist countries.”
She advises that feminist research needs to focus more on the defense industry and related issues, which unfortunately is not happening now.

The debt crisis

Developing countries are facing the worst debt crisis in history with a growing and high cost of external debt. Asia and Oceania hold 27 % of global public debt. Overall, a total of 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on either education or health.

According to the Global Sovereign Debt Monitor report, in 2024, countries in the Global South have to make more debt service payments to their external creditors than ever before. For 45 countries, more than 15% of government revenue flows into debt servicing. Due to high debt service payments, many countries are struggling to service their debts resulting in their cutting back on investments in health, education, social protection, and climate change measures.
Calling the debt crisis as yet another frightening manifestation of corporate capture, Sarala Emmanuel, founder member of the Feminist Collective for Economic Justice, Sri Lanka, points out debt services are absorbing around 45% of the budget revenues of 144 developing countries on paying back their creditors, and of the 32 countries with the heaviest debt service burdens compared to revenue, 10 countries are in Asia.

Who holds these debts?

Multilateral organisations, including the World Bank, hold 46% of the debt of countries who were eligible for debt service suspension initiative of the World Bank; commercial creditors hold 19.5% and bond holders hold 13%, shares Sarala.
She cites the example of her own country: “Sri Lanka is facing a severe economic crisis and has signed its 17th agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), obtaining a loan of US$ 3 billion for a period of 48 months.The Sri Lankan Parliament has passed the economic transformation bill in July this year, to implement severe austerity measures as part of the loan’s conditionalities. By passing numerous legislations that have enshrined IMF diktats, the government has curtailed the rights of its citizens to decide their own economic future. The current state of affairs is one of systemic discrimination and exploitation and reduces workers to bonded labour. Meanwhile under the guise of domestic debt structuring, the retirement pensions of working class have been reduced. The collusion of elite class interest with international lenders has never been so explicitly visible than under the current government.”

She wonders, that how, under the current debt scenario, can one make the government realise that public services like free healthcare, education and universal social security nets are imperative for society and that austerity measures curtailing them will only perpetrate an endless cycle of crisis.

Religious fundamentalism

For Zainah Anwar, a women’s rights activist from Malaysia and co-founder and Chairperson of Musawah, the world today is even less democratic and less safe than what it was a decade ago. The current ground realities have debunked the development theory that as countries develop and modernise, religion becomes less important in the public sphere of governance and policy.

She cautions against the rise of religious fundamentalism in countries and the hegemony of these despotic voices to abuse religion for political gain to perpetuate power, privilege and authority.

“The fact is that many of us in the Global South do not live in countries where there is a separation of religion and state, let alone religion and politics. The reality is that we live in countries where religion- in this particular context – Islam, is the source of law, and public policy,” said Zainah.

“We continue to see the rise of anti-democratic forces, anti-gender equality forces, conservative and fundamentalist actors, and in particular those who use religion, culture, and tradition to sustain the patriarchal and discriminatory agendas. These actors seek to demonise human rights, women’s rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and rights of gender diverse communities. They frame our demands for justice, equality and non-discrimination as anti-national and a threat to society, and to family values, and are calling back achievements in law reforms made in earlier decades,” added Zainah.
“What is worse is that most of the world leaders display no political will and courage to confront this anti-rights forces – in fact many are in unholy alliances with them. They benefit from the power of mobilisation, and politics of hate and exclusion, perpetuated by these forces in a world troubled by inequality, injustice, and uncertainty,” rightly said Zainah.

Economic growth versus gender justice in South Korea

South Korea ranks as the 14th largest economy in the world and the 4th largest in Asia. However, Kyungjin Oh, Executive Director of Korea Women’s Associations United, sees the current neoliberal policies of the country as a threat to women’s rights, which are being ignored in the development agenda of the country.

“Despite all the positive global images of my country, we are still struggling with deep rooted gender-based discrimination and violence, and growing voices from backlash groups. While there have been strong women’s movements in the country, there has also been a growing anti-feminist sentiment. South Korea’s current President Yoon Suk-Yeol took office in 2022 with the support of such backlash groups with anti-feminist agenda. During these two years of his Presidency, he has taken numerous regressive steps impacting women’s rights. One of his first actions, after attaining power, was to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, stating officially that there is no gender discrimination anymore in the Korean society. Since then, there have been severe cutbacks on gender equality policies, especially the project on support for protection of victims of gender-based violence.”
Kyungjin Oh categorises these regressive steps as delegitimising the value of women’s rights and women’s progressive movements.

Rising power of the gender binary ideology and fundamentalism is another negative outcome. “Anti-rights groups and ultra-conservative politics are trying to expand alliances for the value of traditional family norms under the frame of intersecting life, family and nation. The role of women is being emphasised ‘as having a child and doing domestic care’. And women who do not conform to these traditional family norms- like unmarried women, gender diverse groups- are stigmatised as not contributing to the country’s development,” she said.

Growing militarism is also being used as a weapon to attack women’s rights in South Korea. As the country tries to increase its military presence in east Asia, under the frame of national security, military spending is prioritised over the spending on women and social welfare systems. Anti-feminist sentiment among young men is getting stronger, who see women as those who only claim their own rights, without fulfilling the national obligation of compulsory military service. There have been severe cuts for women in marginalised groups. More than 50% of women are in irregular employment and in many cases the wage gap is more than 30%- which is the highest among all OECD countries. 50% of old women are living in poverty.

In the recent months the focus on women farmers remains a stream. A class analysis of rural women has put them in three categories: land owners, workers on family farms, and landless labor. The first category is no doubt the smallest category, but is representative of the powerful feudal base of the country, enjoying fruits of the land without any hand in labor. The other two categories of women face feudal and patriarchal exploitation, working on land without having any right to land ownership, but their toil resulting in rich harvest for land owners. Agriculture, generating the majority of country’s earnings, as well a major livelihood contributor, remains part of the informal sector, which is a decisive factor for landless women farmers agriculture workers being the most exploited and oppressed at the hand of feudal, capitalist and patriarchal forces. As capitalist mode of agriculture intensifies and increases its grip on agricultural production, many actors are working to highlight the plight of women in the rural economy, raising issues of women’s rights, including right to decent livelihood, safe working environment, right to nourishing food and the most important, right to land. There are also policy level initiatives underway. An example is of the Sindh Women Agricultural Workers Act, which was passed in 2019 but till present little has been done for its implementation. Though, these initiatives are much needed to ensure women can raise their voice in demanding rights, it is also important to remember that exploitative classes, especially capitalism has always used women’s rights as an agenda that benefits its own coffers. Capitalism introduces new technologies much of which require more trained, skilled labor force. This is also being articulated as more and more agriculture universities around the country are stressing the need for trained manpower, a prerequisite for agricultural development. The most critical agenda of all, is to understand that the ultimate and most important of rights is the right to land and which will only be granted based on landless women and agriculture workers’ engaging in this struggle as frontline activists, and not as passive receivers of education and sporadic campaigns.

Corporate Farming – who calls the shots?

With the formation of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), there has been a sharp escalation in public land being given over for corporate farming. In addition, land is also being used for gentrification projects like Zulfiqarabad city in Thatta, Bahria Town and DHA city in Karachi. Apart from such housing schemes, farmers’ rights and nationalist groups have been agitating against about 1.3 million acres of land in Sindh being handed over for corporate farming. The Sindhi Hari Tehreek organized a conference on the matter, with participants demanding land to be distributed among landless farmers, as well as called for an end to feudalism. Land grab is not only being seen in Sindh but also across the country including Punjab where a number of actors have been involved including the Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Ltd (RECHS) as well the Bahria Town Ltd (BTL), and the Defense Housing Authority (DHA).

At the other end of the spectrum, the commercial enterprises have been praising the federal government’s corporate farming policy. According to the President, Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders & Small Industry, Mr Shaikhani, there was a need for another green revolution, and furthering the corporate farming agenda, with emphasis on international agriculture technologies. Though he spoke in favor of the marginalized, pointing out that 24 percent of Pakistan’s population (approximately 55 million people) lived below poverty, he did not outline the most critical policy recommendation of genuine land reforms with redistribution of land away from the elite to the peasants, who are in essence the foundation stone for the country’s food security as well as economic growth.

The corporate farming agenda now also carries behind it the support of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh, even though regional and nationalist parties had protested earlier in the year against the 50,000 acres being given to M/s Green Corporate Initiatives, (Private) Limited, an army-backed entity for corporate farming. Recently, as many as 27 Chinese containers carrying agricultural equipment for the `Green Pakistan` initiative have come through the Khunjerab Pass.

 The Sindh government also wants to attract corporate investments in agriculture sector, while emphasizing that local growers would be given equal opportunity in such ventures. The PPP Sindh president, Mr. Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, has stated that the Sindh government has to ensure that irrigation water accessibility to the khatedars, meaning landholders based on revenue records. Given the political ambiguity of land ownership, the feudal and rich landlords controlling land and attached resources including water, what will this mean for the small farmers? It is well known that Pakistan suffers from water scarcity, and this year in the kharif season, there is a risk of 30-35 percent water shortage. For Pakistan’s policy makers, issues of national gravity are resolved not internally through democratic debate and resolution based on equitable distribution for all, but on discussions with known imperialist organizations such as the World Bank, for whom all answers emit from privatization of our resources. In a recent meeting with the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the World Bank Water Global Director, Saroj Kumar Jha advised that the Karachi Water Board needs to operate like a commercial organization. Needless to point out that the privatization of the energy sector is one of the critical most reasons for Pakistan’s mounting debt.

Ventures like the Kisan Card program are being used to provide small farmers (owning 1-12 acres of land) subsidies and incentives to use ‘best quality’ agro-chemical inputs like pesticides and fertilizers, as well as seeds. Farmers have to register themselves, and open bank accounts at specified banks. These schemes promote digitalization, giving the corporate sector information and access to farmers, as well as ensure that it is their products that are being bought and used by small farmers, increasing their market sphere. It also opens space for Big data to gain insights into farmers’ practices and develop strategic market decisions furthering market hold. It should be pointed out that the World Bank has approve $78 million in financing for the Digital Economy Enhancement Project.

Agro-chemical farming continues to reap super profits from the sale of chemical fertilizers. According to a rich farmers’ lobby, the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), the “urea dealers’ mafia” had already minted over PKR 50 billion form farmers in Sindh. Urea prices in the past 12 months have escalated from PKR 2,900/bag to PKR  4,649/bag.

The corporate agriculture policy direction in agriculture development also shed light on the sudden interest in education and skill training programs for rural women as well. At the same time, with more mechanization and digitalization of the agriculture sector, will it mean that millions more landless will have no access to a livelihood?

In short, the only synchronization in agriculture policy is based on the demands of paying off the trillions of dollars of debt that the country’s elite have piled up on the masses. How does corporate farming benefit the landless and how does it provide food security for the people? These are questions that are critical for the economic, social and political well-being of the country.

Climate Imperialism

According to a new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ‘The Unjust Climate,’ floods and high temperatures have globally widened the income gap between rural poor and non-poor households up by $21 billion a year. Further, with every day of extreme heat, poor rural households lose 2.4% of their on-farm incomes, 1.1 percent of the value of the crops they produce, and 1.5 percent of their off-farm income relative to non-poor households. This certainly depicts the reality of Pakistan. The Global Climate Risk Index, ranks Pakistan as the fifth most climate-vulnerable country in the world. Pakistan also faces some of the highest disaster risk levels in the world, ranked as number 23 out of 194 countries.

Climate crisis facing Pakistan has many times resulted in the destruction of millions of dollars-worth crops, livestock, infrastructure and lives and livelihood of farmers, and rural people. At the same time, rising sea levels continue to destroy agricultural land. Though the advanced capitalist countries are historically responsible for the ongoing climate catastrophe, there is no recognition of the fact. The economic crunch along with the climate crisis are being used to further corporate-owned agriculture technology; collaborations on different projects are happening between different actors including Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, and Australian Research Council. In addition, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with Chinese partners has introduced climate-resilient wheat varieties that would provide higher yield per acre, that would be useful in ensuring food security for the country.

Professional farmers, such as those from the SAB, also have been urging the use of genetically modified seeds, and private sector led research initiatives for provision of ‘quality seeds’ for climate change adaptation. In other words, paving the way for agrochemical monopoly corporations to take advantage of disaster, destruction and suffering of others for increasing their profits.

Production Woes

While grand plans are underway for modernizing agriculture in the country, there are still many hurdles faced by farmers. For instance, availability of urea remains a grave issue, with imported urea being provided to fertilizer corporations but farmers unable to procure the product. At the same time, though there was a much higher cotton production than the previous year, the demand for cotton remained low, with at least 200,000 bales o cotton lying with ginners, due to the dire economic situation, high tariff rates on power and gas as well as steep taxes on the industrial sector.

For the current cotton sowing season, the government has decided on at least one million acres for cotton production. However, there have been complaints voiced that there was non-payment of the minimum support price of PKR 8,500 that had been promised at the start of the previous season.

For wheat procurement in the current season, Sindh government has approved a target of 900,000 tons of wheat to be bought at a support price of PKR 4,000/bag. The Chief Minister has directed procurement of 100,000 bardana (bags) for wheat collection from farmers. However, in spite of a bumper crop, there was news of wheat procurement from Ukraine. With delays in wheat procurement by the government, it was reported that wheat was being bought from farmers at a much lower price, with unjust deductions in payment based on excuses such as moisture content in wheat grains.

The Debt Trap Panacea – agricultural trade?

Pakistan’s external debt rose by $1.2 billion in six months to $86.358 billion as of September 30, 2023, and stood at $85.18 billion, while the public debt rose to PRK 42.62 trillion (approximately $153 billion) in January 2024.  According to the IMF, Pakistan is now seeking another medium-term bailout package that is based on longstanding structural reforms; if the IMF executive board approves the package, the staff-level agreement would be based on $1.1 billion — 828 million special drawing rights (SDR) — by late April.

According to news reports, four areas remain central to the new IMF standby agreement. These include firstly, strengthening public finance which translates to broadening the tax base in particular sectors that are real estate, retail and wholesale trade and agriculture. Secondly, to restoring the energy sector’s viability by accelerating cost-reducing reforms. Cost reducing reforms means budget cuts in production to reduce cost and increase profits, and is often hinged on cutting labor costs. Thirdly, there is emphasis on reducing inflation, which is based on the free-floating foreign exchange market. Fourthly, the emphasis on privatization continues, as well as further reforms of government owned corporations. In summary, all of these measures do not address price control of products but focus on letting Pakistani currency’s value be based on foreign exchange markets, as well further shrinking of the labor market, all measures that could ultimately result in further rise in market prices, joblessness, depreciation of the Pakistani rupee value, resulting in further economic hardship for the people.

The economic growth of the country remains unstable with the Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) growth at a negative -0.52 percent, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at only 1 percent in the second quarter of FY24. The decline in economic growth, along with the stiff conditionalities especially tariffs on electricity and gas continue to have a debilitating impact on the industrial growth as well as the working class, the urban poor and the peasantry. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has come down from 28.3% in January to 23.06% depicting a slight decrease in the prices of food products. However, raw food products exports had risen by 35 percent in the previous month, up from $518.87 million to $702.46 million, raising food inflation to 20.2 percent.

The way out is of course increasing foreign exchange earnings, and there is a clear governmental effort to increase exports, as well as open the country to foreign direct investment. The government has invited United Arab Emirates to invest in real estate, energy, agriculture, information technology, sectors which have also been under perusal under the IMF agreements.

Malaysian government is interested in increasing import of rice from Pakistan, while welcoming free trade agreements between the two countries. Pakistan, with the help of National Logistics Corporation (NLC) has been exporting bananas, meat and seafood to Central Asian countries, as well as kinnows to Russia. Though in February, textile exports rose to $1.4 billion from $1.18bn during the same month last year, overall, in the first eight months of FY24, textile and clothing exports shrank 0.65 percent from $11.21 billion to $11.14 billion, based on the high production costs related to higher energy prices. It is also notable, that FDI from China, Pakistan’s largest investor, saw a steep decline of 80 percent during this period.

Worth pointing out that in spite of such troublesome data, the corporate sector has been reaping rich profits. On the KSE-100 index, 83 corporations have shown a growth of 45 percent, with profits of $5.94 billion up by 6.3 percent in 2023.

Pakistan Privatization Ltd

With poor credit ratings, the government is unable to get much credit. At the same time, the IMF conditionalities continue the push privatization policy as one of the key recourse for overcoming the crushing economic crisis facing the country. The Privatization Commission is supposed to be working out a three-phased privatization program for public entities in the next five-year plan (2024-29). According to the Federal Minister for Privatization and Board of Investment Abdul Aleem Khan, 15 to 20 institutions must be privatized immediately. There are also ongoing discussions with IMF to introduce reforms within the FBR

The privatization of PIA is considered a priority, and British firm Ernst & Young had been appointed as financial advisor for this purpose. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group, who had earlier last year been appointed by the government of Pakistan as transaction advisor under the Public Private Partnership Act 2017, has informed the Federal Minister for Defence, Defence Production and Aviation Khawaja Muhammed Asif, above the outsourcing of three major airports including Islamabad International Airport, Jinnah International Airport Karachi, and Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore in the first phase.

Capitalism’s unending disasters

While the thrust for privatization and more and more corporate sector encroachment is being encouraged, there seems to be a blind eye to the environmental disasters, and corrupt practices it brings in its wake. According to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, its survey of 270 industries across four industrial zones has shown that dozens of industries are non-compliant with environmental laws. Assessment measures on discharge of effluents has shown that many industries are responsible for polluting air spaces as well as ground water. Pakistan has been categorized as the second most polluted country in 2023. According to according to ‘2023 World Air Quality Report’, published by IQAir, a Swiss air-monitoring organization, Lahore is the most polluted mega city globally, with pollution levels at 99.5 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³), 20 times higher than WHO guidelines. Data from Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI) has shown that hazardous air quality is resulting in a life expectancy loss of 4.4 years.

While privatization is considered to provide the best option towards development, there is little to prove this assumption. The people of Pakistan continue to suffer from tuberculosis, diabetes and cancer, with women also facing potentially triple-negative breast cancer. It’s reported that the country witnesses approximately 608,000 new TB cases and 15,000 drug-resistant TB cases, annually, while every fourth Pakistani suffers from diabetes. Private hospitals are in the meantime taking advantage of a government hospital, Services Hospital Lahore, by illegally obtaining postgraduate training and house jobs from the facility.

Climate crisis, which has been unleashed on the basis of climate imperialism continues to leash its havoc, not only in Pakistan but globally, with Vietnam suffering from huge loss of arable land due to rising sea levels. While the climate crisis leaves the most vulnerable suffering from loss of livelihood, the World Trade Organization continues to push for more free trade agreements that are entirely detrimental to small producers; a recent example is the passing of the WTO’s fishing agreement which has decided that fisherfolk are responsible for ‘illegal fishing.’

The many atrocities of capitalism also include the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Immune to the intense hunger faced by the people of Gaza, the Zionist Israel continues its food and humanitarian embargo in Gaza. According to UNICEF, said every third Gazan child is severely malnourished.

It is indeed tragic that the world’s policy makers, including those in Pakistan are unable to see the downward social and economic disasters befalling the country. The voices raised by the people against stark injustice ushered through neoliberalism, or induced by climate imperialism fall on deaf ears of our state.

In a press release, the PKMT stated that it strongly opposed the recent move of the Technical Advisory Committee, operating under the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Islamabad, wherein it had approved and recommended commercialisation of two high-yielding GM varieties of sugar cane; insect-resistant transgenic sugar cane (CABB-IRS) and herbicide-tolerant transgenic sugar cane (CABB-HTS) developed by the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. It now needs final approval of the NBC.

“The PKMT denounced this attempt. This will further allow the corporate sector to control our food and agricultural production. The approval for GM sugar cane commercialisation will be disastrous for the country, especially for the agriculture sector. It will be the first GM food crop in Pakistan,” officials of the non-profit organisation stated in a press release.

The world, they said, had already witnessed the failure of Bt cotton crop in India; farmers had borne the brunt of the Bt cotton, and the rapidly falling cotton yield in Pakistan was also a testimony to the fact.

“It’s also to be noted that GM crops are banned in several European Union (EU) countries as well as Turkey and many other countries.”

They recalled that in 2019, there was an attempt to introduce maize seed in Pakistani market, but the Ministry of National Food Security & Research distanced itself from the approval of genetically modified maize.

“Now, after the failure of Bt Cotton, and disapproval of GM maize, another attempt is being made, which will only further undermine farmer’s collective rights over seeds and agriculture production. There is no doubt that the corporate sector for the past many years has been lobbying for the commercial use of GM crops.”

“Granting of patent rights to mega-transnational corporations springs from the TRIPs (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement of the WTO. The PKMT reiterates its demand for a moratorium on genetically modified seeds and foods in the country and immediate stoppage of GM sugar cane promotion.”

The organisation also referred to the petition filed by various civil society organisations against the Amended Seed Act 2015, and demanded an immediate hearing of the petition pertaining to matters to farmers’ collective rights to seeds.

“It’s well known that sugar cane is used for ethanol production. This move will exacerbate the extremely dire situation of environmental catastrophe, not to mention the increasing pauperisation of small and landless farmers. We strongly urge the National Biosafety Committee to disapprove the two varieties,” the organisation stated.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2024

With the start of a new year, the situation in the country sees no real change in terms of economic stability. It is unfortunate that in 75 years, it has gone to the IMF 23 times for financial bailout programs. The State Bank of Pakistan has received the second tranche of $700 million, which is approximately equivalent to SDR 528 million. The last tranche of $1.2 billion under the $3 billion Standby Agreement is expected in March 2024.

Data on Pakistan’s borrowing record is stark testimony to its achievements in being able to pull itself out of debt on a path to self-reliance and economic stability: it ranks 5^th in outstanding debt at $7.4 billion. Other countries before Pakistan are Argentina, Egypt, Ukraine, and Ecuador. According to Pakistan’s Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data, the country seems to be functioning on borrowed money; it has borrowed $5.968 billion from multiple financing sources during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $5.595 billion borrowed during the same period of 2022-23. According to news reports, Pakistan has received $1.2 billion as the first tranche of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in July 2023, and $1 billion from the UAE. If these amounts are added to the total financial inflows, a total of $8.168 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (FY).

In the fiscal year 2023, Pakistan purchased $894 million, accompanied by charges and interest payments totaling $776 million and $325.8 million, respectively. According to the IMF, an IMF loan is disbursed by the borrower’s purchase of foreign currency assets from the IMF with its own currency. Repayment of the loan is achieved by the borrower’s repurchase of its currency from the IMF with foreign currency. In 2022, Pakistan’s purchase from the IMF had been $1.64 billion, which is testimony to its dependence on the IMF. It is noteworthy that the IMF has downward revised real GDP growth to 2% from 2.5% for the ongoing FY.

Panacea or Poison

In order to get out of the debt quagmire, it seems that the government policy making is based on neoliberalism, with emphasis on increasing exports as the lynch pin. The Federal Minister Commerce, Industries & Production as part of the caretaker government, has been paying especial attention to increasing trade relations with various countries, and has even been visiting the MENA region to boost Pakistani trade. In addition, he is hopeful that exports will cross $100 billion in the next five years if the 10,000-acre new industrial zone in Karachi comes to fruition. That this push for exports is having an effect on the trade deficit is certainly there, as it has narrowed by 34.29 percent in the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2023-24. Exports in December have increased by 22.21 percent, from $2.3 billion last year to $2.82 billion for the same corresponding month.

On the whole, there has been increased exports for a number of agricultural goods such as maize, whose exports have tripled, escalating from $85 million to $262 million in a period of one year, and rice whose exports in the same period from last year have gone up from $282.53 million to $367.39 million. Similarly, textile and clothing sector exports have gone up to $1.39 billion, up from $1.35bn in the same month the previous year, and has shown an expansion of 3.3 percent. The export of raw food products have increased massively up to 111.63% in December 2023, and overall, agriculture and food exports jumped by 64% during first half of current fiscal year; the increase was from $2.345 billion to $3.847 billion in same period last year. It needs to be highlighted that our major export markets are the European Union, USA and China. Given the intense political tug of war between the western imperialist countries and China, with Pakistan caught in between, it does not border well for Pakistan. It is important to note that Pakistan is adopting trade settlements in Chinese RMB rather than US dollars. There has been an increase of nearly 600 percent in trade settlements using the Chinese currency. This will decrease the country’s dependency on US dollars but of course what will it mean in terms of Pakistan’s debt obligations to China have to be further studied.

From the perspective of food security, the upsurge in exports for rice, (especially basmati), meat and fruits has other ramifications as well. High food prices mean hardship and hunger for the people at home, especially the very farmers who are responsible for rearing the livestock, fruit and vegetables. In the end, though huge loans taken by governments run by elite of the country, the cost is born by the working masses. There has been high inflation in the country, going up to 29.7 percent in the last months. According to reports, various consumer companies saw their unit sales falling and declining purchasing power of the people. They have been blamed on soaring prices of basic kitchen items, as well as electricity rates. The economic situation of the common man is well understood by suicide cases being reported which include murder of family members as well based on inability to meet family needs. Such shocking cases portray the suicidal rise in basic items. This is even more tragic, given that global food prices came down in 2023. According to the FAO, its Food Price Index (FFPI) fell by 10% below its December 2022 level.

Apart from promoting exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) is also being promoted in the country. Only in November, 2023, FDI increased by 12 percent, growing from previous year’s $117 million to $131.4 million in the same time frame. SBP data for the first half of the current fiscal year shows that a net FDI of $862.6 million was received and is a 35% increase. Foreign investment is based on the primary self-interest of the investors and does not necessarily take into consideration the needs of the local communities, or country’s welfare. The aid agencies as well as commercial groups of various countries including China, UAE, USA are interested in investment in agriculture, including fruits, mines and minerals. This trend is quite apparent. The Caretaker Federal Minister for Privatization has concluded the privatization of the Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) with the purchasing party IMS Engineering. The Asian Development Bank has stated that it would promote enhancement of the role of the private sector in its so-called climate resilient housing ecosystems. No doubt that these investments will promote neoliberalism, hinged on privatization that would increase the role of transnational corporations responsible for human rights abuses and environmental degradation.

Produce and Export, No Matter the Cost

Agriculture production is bulwark of export. And the means for increasing production seems to lie only on external inputs and technologies. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has given permission importing 200,000 metric tons of urea as a buffer stock, which is being brought in from Azerbaijan. There were special instructions given against hoarding and ensuring farmers’ easy access to the input. Apart from urea, agriculture sector machinery and equipment were also imported, showing an increase of 60.76 percent.

Of course, multinational corporations such as Nestle have been promoting modern technologies, and for ‘educating’ farmers. It is quite ironical that the farming sector, which is the biggest export sector, responsible for most of the foreign exchange earnings, is always being considered the most backward.

In the same vein, another Spanish clothing multinational, Industria de Diseño Textil (Inditex) is also interested in working with farmers in Pakistan. According to D&B Hoovers, Inditex is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers, globally having 6,475 shops under seven different banners, including Zara, Bershka, and Zara Home. It is owned by a Spanish billionaire. One wonders, why such a corporation, which has faced intense criticism for its ‘fashion sense’ making fun of ongoing massacres in occupied Palestine? Further, can giant multinational corporations who are responsible for intense exploitation of workers and environment deliver justice and equity?

In any case, Inditex has provided funding to the International Labor Organization (ILO) for carrying out the second phase of a program, Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW) in the cotton sector. The objective of the workshop is to promote rights of cotton workers, and capacity building of cotton-growing communities to advocate for their rights and address gender inequalities in the sector. The ILO and Inditex entered into a partnership in 2017 to promote an integrated approach to FPRW in the cotton supply chain in China, India, Mali and Pakistan.

Another news item provides information on the caretaker Sindh government and M/s Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited entering an agreement to provide over 52,000 acres of land in six districts for corporate farming. This initiative falls under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). The M/s Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited which is under the umbrella of the Pakistan Army is supposed to carry out corporate farming using barren land in all provinces of Pakistan. It should be noticed that in November 2023, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved provision of PKR 20 billion through the Federal Government to the Defence Division, Ministry of Defence. According to the news, based on the successful pilot corporate agriculture farming project in Punjab, a government-to-government (G2G) Joint Venture Agreement was signed at Chief Minister House between the Sindh government and M/s Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited. The amount of land and districts included in providing barren land include 28,000 acres in Khairpur, 10,000 acres in Tharparkar, 9,305 acres in Dadu, 1,000 acres in Thatta, 3,408 acres in Sujawal and 1,000 acres in Badin. The agreement is based on 20 years to carry out the so-called Green Pakistan Initiative.

It should be pointed out that while thousands of acres of land is being handed over for corporate farming in Sindh, the province is facing persisting water shortage that could lead to a drought. In addition, climate change impacts including calamities as well as rising sea level has been eating up land and/or it has been destroyed by salinity. The year 2023 has been marked as the hottest year in world records. In Pakistan, the climate crisis has had a major impact on the cotton crop, which has been suffering a decline for a number of years, and even this year the production did not reach the set target. In the mountains, there has been a dry spell and lack of snowfall which means lesser amount of water in the rivers. This will impact fish species that breed in the downstream ecosystem. The impact of climate crisis, now having been upgraded to climate emergency is a global phenomenon. Across the world, countries are suffering from drought, forest fires, decreased ground water and other impacts. For experts on the subject, the answers lie in attracting foreign direct investment in the fisheries sector. Colonial dominance has allowed dependence on foreign expertise rather than trying to tap into indigenous knowledge systems and finding answers from the communities’ wisdom gained over centuries. It is worth pointing out that while so much emphasis is being put on trade and foreign trade, the world is going through an intense political upheaval, with wars and militarization disrupting trade routes. The genocidal aggression by Apartheid Israel against Gaza, suggests of a looming famine in the Strip, with its entire population of 2.2 million already facing crisis levels of food insecurity.

Is this the time for relying more on trade or is it time to assess our internal strengths, capabilities and promote self-reliance leading to a resilient national economy? A recalibration is also needed as according to the World Bank’s analysis Pakistan’s the economic performance does not seem so rosy, with growth projected at only 1.7 percent. This scenario is also predicted globally, where third year in a row, economic growth is predicted to remain slow, prolonging poverty and debilitating debt levels in many developing countries.

The discrimination against small and landless farmers is quite blatant. In Kohat district, the agriculture department has introduced drones for pesticide spraying. From a health perspective, no doubt its beneficial for the farmers to spared pesticide spraying. But a remark from a senior member of the agriculture department that such technology is more time efficient, as well as spares the cost of hiring labor is objectionable. Livelihood, and for that decent livelihood is the responsibility of the state and such remarks show a stark lack of concern for the livelihood of agriculture workers.

Small farmers have great difficulty in accessing these chemical fertilizers due to black marketing, and due to land being intoxicated to these chemicals, it is difficult to get a good harvest without their use. It should be noticed that in the current FY budget, PKR 30 billion have been allocated for fertilizer subsidy. However, the subsidy is provided as gas subsidy to fertilizer plants, and then fertilizer has to be sold at a subsidized rate. As is seen every year, in the end chemical fertilizers are in short supply and hoarded to be sold at much higher rates than set by the government and/or or smuggled out of the country. In summary, profits are minted by various interest groups except small farmers.

At the same time, the government officials protect the big landlords by not levying taxes on their income and agricultural land. According to a tax expert, Dr Ikramul Haq, the remedy is to let the federal government collect the taxation on agricultural income, while transferring to the provincial governments collection of sales tax on goods. According to him, the current situation allows concentration of resources and powers in the hands of privileged classes who support corrupt government officials as they safeguard interests of these elite segments of society. There has been a constant resistance from the federal government and provincial authorities to impose income tax on agricultural income of rich landlords based on their political clout. In the FY22-23, agricultural income tax accumulatively from all of the provincial governments was PKR 2.4 billion. Reportedly, its national potential could be up to PKR 800 billion, if the agricultural income tax was imposed in accordance with the Constitution.

National Assets: Our Children

There is a price to the above policies. And it is being paid by children. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first provincial Child Labor Survey 2022-23 has shown that 11%, about 745,165 children are employed as child labor. The situation would be more or less the same in the other provinces. With accelerating economic deterioration in the economic stability of the country, children are forced to share in financial provision for their families. Another issue that revolves around children’s health is the increasing occurrence of Type 1 diabetes in children in Pakistan. Around 100,000 are estimated to be suffering. The cause of Type 1 diabetes in children is considered to be the presence of high fatty and processed food. It is considered to be more prevalent in urban rather than rural centers and is also due to lack of healthy environment providing children the awareness and space for physical activity. The context of development is based on many parameters defined in the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. It is quite evident that children are being neglected in the country based on glamorizing values pertaining to profit-seeking Capitalist society especially targeting children.

There has to be a more wholistic view of development rather than just seeking foreign exchange and chasing our tails to get rid of the mountainous debt.