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Karachi: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Mr. Jameel Ahmad, has called for scaling up Zarkheze, SBP’s flagship digital agricultural lending platform, to expand credit outreach particularly among small farmers in underserved and unserved areas.
He was addressing a meeting of the Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) held in Karachi to review agricultural credit performance and deliberate on measures to strengthen inclusive and resilient agricultural finance.
In his remarks, the Governor noted that Pakistan’s economy has regained macroeconomic stability and is moving towards a more durable growth path. He shared that real GDP growth reached 3.7 percent in the first quarter of FY26, while full-year growth is projected between 3.75 percent and 4.75 percent. Headline inflation has moderated to 5.8 percent by January 2026, creating space for monetary policy to support growth while maintaining price stability. He added that the external account remains broadly contained due to prudent policies, resilient remittances and stable commodity prices.
Highlighting the importance of agriculture, Mr. Ahmad said the sector remains critical for enhancing farm productivity, supporting rural livelihoods and ensuring food security. He stressed the need to strengthen agricultural financial intermediation to promote value addition, improve market linkages and ensure sustainable sectoral growth.
During FY25, agricultural credit disbursements reached a record Rs 2,577 billion, reflecting a 16 percent annual increase as a result of coordinated efforts between SBP and the banking sector. Building on this momentum, disbursements during the first half of FY26 stood at Rs 1,412 billion, while the number of borrowers rose to 2.97 million.
To accelerate borrower expansion, particularly among small farmers, the Governor urged banks to fully leverage SBP initiatives including the Risk Coverage Scheme for Small Farmers and Underserved Areas and Zarkheze. The platform enables digital onboarding of farmers, standardized credit assessment, integration with land and crop information systems, and end-to-end traceability of loans. It also ensures that financing is utilized for quality agricultural inputs through an integrated vendor network.
The Governor emphasized that Zarkheze must be developed as a core delivery channel for agricultural finance to make small-ticket lending commercially viable and expand outreach beyond traditional high-volume regions. He directed banks to ensure timely processing of applications, strengthen internal ownership of the scheme and further develop the vendor ecosystem to enhance farmers’ access to certified inputs and embedded advisory services.
He also called on banks to fully implement their Agricultural Credit Expansion Plans for FY26 and stressed the importance of coordination with provincial governments for digitization of land records. Partnerships with fintechs, agri-tech firms and microfinance institutions were highlighted as key to improving outreach and innovation in agricultural finance.
The meeting further reviewed progress on an upgraded crop loan insurance framework, CLIS+, being developed under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Pakistan Insurance Transformation Program (PITP). The proposed scheme aims to expand crop coverage, establish an insurance consortium for improved risk-sharing and timely farmer payouts, and introduce technology-based calamity assessment mechanisms along with enhanced protection through loss-of-income support.
The initiatives are expected to strengthen the resilience of Pakistan’s agriculture sector against climate-related and other risks while improving financial inclusion in rural areas.
