ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Friday inaugurated the Land Information and Management System-Centre of Excellence (LIMS-CoE), which is believed to revolutionise the agriculture sector in the country by enhancing modern agro-farming and utilising over nine million hectares of uncultivated state land.

The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, ministers, provincial chief secretaries, agricultural experts and army officers.

The launch of LIMS-CoE, the first exceptional initiative, is aimed at enhancing food security, improving agricultural exports and reducing import burden on national exchequer by transforming millions of acres of uncultivated/ low-yield land in the country. The system would help optimise agricultural production through innovative technologies and sustainable agricultural practices, based on agro-ecological potential of land, while ensuring wellbeing of rural communities and preservation of environment.

Saudi Arabia has provided an initial $500 million investment to set up the facility, and huge foreign investment is expected to be made in the sector in near future. “As far as the high efficiency irrigation system is concerned, Saudi Arabia has already given us [Pakistan] $500 million,” Maj-Gen Shahid Nazeer, who heads the LIMS-CoE, told reporters at a briefing on Thursday. “Aimed at enhancing modern agro-farming utilising over 9 million hectares of uncultivated waste state land, the LISM-CoE has been established under the Director General Strategic Projects of Pakistan Army,” he added.

The state-of-the-art system would revolutionise means to steer agricultural development through real-time information about land, crops, weather, water resource and pest-handling under one roof, according to the official.

The centre would work in collaboration with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and China on various agri projects to enhance Pakistan’s exports. “In the next 3-4 days, a very high-powered Saudi delegation is coming to Pakistan to explore this kind of investment in four major sectors including agriculture, mines and minerals, information technology (IT) and defence production,” he said, adding that that would be done under the umbrella of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) that was recently established to revive the Pakistani economy.