With success on the grid, CPEC now needs to power agriculture

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with which China seeks to establish the new Silk Road, will be a game changer for Pakistan, making it a strong economic and strategic player in the region.

The economic corridor that aims to connect the Gwadar port in the southwestern coast of Balochistan to China's northwestern region Xinjiang-China through a network of highways, railways, and pipelines, has the potential to transform Pakistan into the 20th largest economic power by 2030. It only needs to put more attention to agriculture to become as beneficial as it can be.

Despite the western media campaigns, which say that CPEC is China’s strategic plan to take over the region and manipulate trade, despite opposition from India and the US, and slow economic activity around the globe due to the coronavirus outbreak, the pace of work on the economic corridor's projects has picked up. CPEC Authority, which comes under Pakistan's planning and development ministry, has achieved commendable milestones in a short span of time.

CPEC has entered the second phase and work on the projects is making headway with every passing day. At the Kunhar River in the Kaghan Valley of Mansehra, the $1.96 billion 874 megawatt (MW) Suki Kinari Hydropower Project is already half complete, and soon should bring down electricity costs.

Another one, for which an agreement was signed on June 25, is the Kohala Hydropower Project in Azad Kashmir, the largest power sector investment of $2.4 billion in one independent power producer. It is a step forward towards clean energy and to reducing Pakistan's dependence on costly imported fuel. The $1.5 billion Azad Pattan Hydropower Project on the Jhelum River, also in Azad Kashmir, has also been signed.

With the clean energy facilities above and others based on coal, 14 power projects are set to be completed by 2021. Transmission lines of 878 kilometers from Matiari to Lahore will be bearing a load capacity of 4,000 MW. The line is already half complete. With the completion of all the projects, Pakistan's energy security will increase. Only with this supply of power, CPEC is estimated to add about 2.5 percent into the current GDP. Its energy projects alone have already created 30,000 jobs, according to Ministry of Power data.

However, energy is not the only sector that needs dedication. Agriculture should requires it too, as it plays a conspicuous role in Pakistan’s economy, contributing about 19 percent of the GDP and 40 percent in terms of the total employment.

There is a dire need to converge on gearing up from subsistence agriculture to modern and commercial agriculture, as it is being done in China. A strategic mechanism based on artificial intelligence (AI) and modern scientific techniques is essential to increasing productivity through innovative village enterprises, cold supply chain, genetic engineering, biotechnology-based seed breeding, and drip irrigation. Modern, internet-based trade and marketing tools are also needed to modernize Pakistan’s trade and market access.

It is crucial to establish special agricultural zones along the special economic zones (SEZs) under CPEC for market balance and a two-way benefit for both Pakistan and China. As an agricultural country Pakistan is still lagging behind, not only in comparison with China, but also in terms of delivering for its population — in trade and livelihood opportunities in the agricultural sector.

Pakistan and China have to expedite bilateral cooperation in the sphere of agriculture in the second phase of CPEC by engaging Chinese biotech firms to help boost production and exports for the economic corridor project to become a real game changer for a larger sector of the Pakistani population.

– Hina Ayra is an economist, business consultant and a writer.

Twitter: @HinaAyra