Pakistani Women Farmers Access Income-Boosting Technologies

By Faheem Abbasi, Ph.D.

When the USAID-funded Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity (PATTA) offered me an opportunity to join their team, I didn’t hesitate to accept a role as Deputy Chief of Party, and later as Chief of Party. I have worked in development in Pakistan for over 24 years on programs varying from education to water, sanitation and health, and energy to public affairs, and I felt that agriculture, the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, was an important element I could not miss. Over the past two years, my work with PATTA has strengthened my belief that the development of Pakistan’s agriculture through new technologies and supportive policymaking is essential to bolster our nation’s economy, farmers and women agricultural workers in particular.

Women farmers in Pakistan participate in a range of agricultural activities — from sowing and harvesting fields, to preparing food and managing livestock. But despite their critical role in the country’s agricultural sector, social and cultural barriers often limit women’s access to relevant, income-boosting agricultural technologies and information.

To facilitate relationships that build local capacity, help expand access to business opportunities, and increase incomes for women entrepreneurs, PATTA collaborates closely with women farmers and agribusiness professionals sharing new technologies and practices that boost income and promote equity in agriculture.

And these collaborations help overcome hurdles and deliver results. For example, in Punjab, when Solve Agri Pak Limited, a women-led agribusiness offering dairy and livestock products and services, experienced challenges to access local dealers and expanding their business, we worked with them to increase their capacity and leverage new investments. The company was able to expand, opening its very first franchise called “Darwaish and Sons” in 2019, increasing opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

And our work doesn’t end there. We also offer opportunities for smallholder farmers to connect with buyers to purchase or rent technologies such as mini-tractors, grass cutters, spray machines, and improved fodder and vegetable seeds for enhanced accessibility to expensive but impactful equipment and machinery. With a goal to strengthen connections between various associations, investors and businesses in the agriculture sector, we deliver advice and best practices via trainings, peer-to-peer learning, agricultural events and demonstrations. These practical trainings offer much-needed support to increase smallholder incomes and commercialize their farms.

After attending a PATTA demonstration on improved fodder seeds, Naila Bano, a dairy farmer and member of the women-led Dairy Farmer Association Gilgit Baltistan — which focuses on women farmers’ issues in Baltistan, adopted the Emmerson Ryegrass seed — a unique, fast-growing, and cost-efficient variety of highly nutritious animal fodder.

“After learning about this innovative seed technology, I was successfully able to produce an additional ton of nutritional fodder per month. I am also able to sell the surplus fodder to other farmers,” she noted after adapting the new variety.

Even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we engaged women representatives of partner agribusinesses like Solve Agri Pak in our “tele-demonstration” radio series, providing them with a platform to promote agricultural technologies to women farmers while increasing the visibility of women working in agriculture.

To date, through gender-inclusive technology demonstrations, workshops, and radio programs broadcast across Pakistan, PATTA has reached over 48,106 women farmers and entrepreneurs. The project has also increased access to productive economic resources and community-based business development to 5,949 women farmers and entrepreneurs.

With these practical and tangible steps, our hope is to accelerate gender parity to provide an equitable environment for Pakistani women farmers and agribusiness leaders. The time to take actionable steps is now. The need is immediate.

- The author is the chief of party for the USAID-funded Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity implemented by CNFA