Emirates Investment Group to buy Pakistan farmland

Emirates Investment Group (EIG) is in the process of acquiring farmland in Pakistan to export more food to the Gulf region and is seeking international partners, a company executive said on Tuesday.

EIG, a private-sector investment company based in Sharjah, already exports vegetables and grains such as rice and wheat from Pakistan to the Gulf, Vice Chairman Raza Jafar told Reuters. “In the pipeline we have a number of deals for leasing and buying land in the Punjab province of Pakistan, which come through by the end of the year,” he said in an interview, declining to comment on the size or cost of the land.

Once the land is acquired, EIG planned to produce vegetables including onions, tomatoes and potatoes, Jafar said. “We are also looking to producing citrus fruits and cattle farming.”

He added that the company was seeking international partners specialised in agriculture to handle those projects. Governments of Gulf states have been seeking to acquire farmland in developing nations to secure food supply.

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on Apr 29 2009. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry