ISLAMABAD: Pakistani corporate farming firm FonGrow and Brazilian experts have joined hands to introduce modern livestock breeding methods in the South Asian nation to increase “productivity and profitability” for farmers, state media reported on Friday.
Pakistan set up the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) — a civil-military hybrid forum — in 2023 to attract foreign funding in key sectors, particularly agriculture, mining, information technology, defense production and energy.
FonGrow is a flagship project under the hybrid government-army Green Pakistan Initiative. Most SIFC initiatives in the agriculture sector are being administered by FonGrow, which is part of the Fauji Foundation investment group run by former Pakistani military officers. The FonGrow agriculture and livestock farm is located in Khanewal city in Punjab province, Pakistan’s most populous.
“Under the guidance of Brazilian experts, modern methods are being introduced for livestock breeding in Pakistan,” Radio Pakistan reported. “Fongrow is taking practical steps to increase the productivity of livestock farmers … Modern farming techniques will prove to be profitable for livestock farmers.”
In an interview with Arab News in 2023, the CEO of FonGrow said Pakistan was seeking up to $6 billion in investment from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain over the next three to five years for corporate farming, intending to cultivate 1.5 million acres of previously unfarmed land and mechanize the existing 50 million acres of agricultural lands across the country.
“We have estimated about $5-6 billion [investment from Gulf nations] for initial three to five years,” Major General (retired) Tahir Aslam, FonGrow’s managing director and chief executive officer, had said, declining to share details about the breakdown of the investment from each country.
The CEO said the company was engaging with several Saudi companies like Al-Dahara, Saleh and Al-Khorayef to attract investment in the corporate farming sector and was also working on different investment models with Saudi and UAE firms.
