The State Bank of Pakistan convened its Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee in Karachi to review agricultural credit performance and press banks to expand borrower outreach, with a focus on underserved areas and small farmers. The Governor called for Zarkheze, SBP’s digital agricultural lending platform, to be scaled up as a core delivery channel and for banks to make fuller use of SBP initiatives including the Risk Coverage Scheme for Small Farmers and Underserved Areas. Agricultural credit disbursements reached a record PKR 2,577 billion in FY25, up 16 percent year on year, and totaled PKR 1,412 billion in the first half of FY26, while the number of borrowers increased to 2.97 million. Zarkheze was positioned as a key enabler for wider, commercially viable small ticket lending through digital onboarding, standardized credit assessment, integration with land and crop information, end to end loan traceability, and a vendor network intended to help ensure financing is used for quality inputs. Banks were urged to speed up application processing, strengthen internal ownership, expand the vendor ecosystem, and implement their FY26 Agricultural Credit Expansion Plans, alongside coordination with provincial governments on land record digitization and partnerships with fintechs, agri tech firms, and microfinance institutions. The Committee also discussed work to develop an upgraded crop loan insurance framework, CLIS+, under the Asian Development Bank funded Pakistan Insurance Transformation Program, including expanded crop coverage, an insurance consortium to improve risk sharing and farmer payouts, technology based calamity assessment, and loss of income support. Separately, it deliberated on scaling up Electronic Warehouse Receipt Financing, highlighting the need to expand accredited warehousing infrastructure and deepen bank participation in warehouse receipt based lending.
State Bank of Pakistan 2026-02-12
State Bank of Pakistan urges banks to scale up Zarkheze to broaden agricultural lending to small farmers
The State Bank of Pakistan's Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee reviewed agricultural credit performance, urging banks to expand outreach to underserved areas and small farmers, and to scale up the Zarkheze digital lending platform. Agricultural credit disbursements hit PKR 2,577 billion in FY25, with initiatives like the Risk Coverage Scheme and Electronic Warehouse Receipt Financing discussed to enhance credit access and risk management.