Over the last century, domestic demand for food has risen geometrically. According to the United Nations, at the current growth rate, the population is expected to double by 2050. By then, the food demand is projected to increase to anywhere between 59 percent and 98 percent.

It is amazing to realise the enormous potential of the agriculture sector to deal with this dilemma. Agriculture sector has a ripple effect on the national economy. Pakistan’s agriculture sector needs to be modelled in a way that we have not seen before to confront the projected demand for food.

Climate change-driven water insufficiency, urbanisation, lack of investment and rising production costs pose a challenge to national food security.

Traditional food production in Pakistan is not sufficient to meet the demand. Pakistan has become a net importer of food. Therefore, in tandem with the current production system, we need to adopt increasing productivity measures. The substantial shortage in agriculture output can be bridged by transforming our barren lands into fertile lands.

Drought, deforestation, and intensive farming methods are turning an area half the size of Britain into desert every year. As per the United Nations, by 2030, 135 million people could lose their homes and livelihoods to desertification.

Pakistan has an enormous agriculture potential. It is fundamentally an agricultural country. Nearly two thirds of its population is dependent on agriculture-related activities. However, as reported by the UNDP, 80 percent of Pakistan’s area consists of arid or semi-arid lands. These terrains are vulnerable to desertification — a process by which cultivable land gets degraded to a desert owing to drought, deforestation, primitive and improper agricultural practices, climate change or an amalgamation of these factors.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, around 1.46 million hectares of land in the Punjab in the year 2019-2020 was categorised as cultivable wasteland. The land is fit for cultivation but is not cropped on account of numerous reasons, such as water logging and salinity, electricity, technology and resource constraints or inadequate capital. A major catalyst behind poor development of these lands is a lack of value creation paradigm coupled with a lack of vision.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, around 1.46 million hectares of land in the Punjab in the year 2019-2020 was categorised as cultivable wasteland. The land is fit for cultivation but is not cropped on account of numerous reasons, such as water logging and salinity, electricity, technology and resource constraints or inadequate capital. A major catalyst behind poor development of these lands is a lack of value creation paradigm coupled with a lack of vision.

We have large arid areas in south Punjab: Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah. We also have wastelands in Balochistan and Sindh resulting from relatively marginalised water pumping systems, water scarcity or brackish water.

Surveys have shown that there are belts of lands in these areas where sweet water aquifers exist. We have not been irrigating these belts since the local communities are not aware of the availability of these aquifers. In some cases, the high cost of drilling and limited access to energy resources make it unfeasible for small-holding farmers to operate at an efficient scale.

These farmers have a myopic view. They are trapped in a vicious cycle of devastation. They are neither in a position to grow crops, nor can they find a water source for irrigation. Once these lands become fertile, they will be capable of providing a consistent ecosystem for the soil to nurture and grow.

Countries across the globe are finding ways to exploit the untapped potential of barren land. China is constantly transforming its deserts into green lands. The Mu Us Desert, one of China’s four major deserts that covers an area of 42,200 square kilometers, was undergoing desertification but has vanished from the map as 93 percent of the land has become green.

Saline-alkaline tolerant crops are changing the dynamics of agriculture in deserts like Dubai as well. From drip irrigation to tougher seeds, innovations in water-scarce farming are increasing the efficacy of agriculture in the barren lands. Farmers in the United Arab Emirates have begun using a Norwegian technology of mixing nano-clay with water and bind them to sand particles to condition the desert soil for growing food in deserts.

How are we going to transform Pakistan’s barren lands to harness their potential? How does a piece of barren land offer a stream of opportunities to stakeholders – large landowners, small-holding farmers and investors alike?

The government and corporate sector should come forward and form public-private partnerships to achieve sustainable growth. The government must increase its efforts to institutionalise awareness and vocational centres in Pakistan to promote agriculture education. It needs to make programmes to not only accelerate pilot projects to the maturity level but also empower students and entrepreneurs to integrate IT tools and harness tech-skills for smart agriculture.

District-wise data of GPS mapping of water aquifers with exact GPS coordinates should be made available to the farmers. The areas with a potential for agricultural land development should be identified. The risk factor needs to be brought down by the government by incentivising small farmers and encouraging students from the IT sector towards smart agriculture.

The corporate sector can help stop desertification and turn around large swathes of arid regions in the Punjab and elsewhere in the country into cultivable land.

This may appear to be a daunting task but it isn’t impossible. Others in the Middle East and elsewhere across the globe have done this to boost long-run growth through corporate sector. The corporate sector can ensure greater field efficiency by introducing better farm management skills, information dissemination, capital availability with a long-term vision and effective execution.

Taken together, these solutions governed through a partnership can create a sizeable opportunity for all stakeholders. Experts can help farmers customise their solutions to get right fertilisation, crop-selection and agro forestry. Given the right tools, the barren land can benefit from continued research and development and demand-driven production to meet the supply crunch. It can create wider markets for farmers, upgrade international trade flow and create sustainable solutions to support long-term agriculture development.

Barren lands can create investment marvels that mitigate climate crisis, food insecurity, and enhance economic opportunities. Agriculture is the way to boost livelihood of farmers, generating employment and turning profits for investors.

The writer is founder and CEO of Enrichers Investment Group with a strong interest in agriculture development