Pakistan’s agricultural sector is under strain from every direction. In a recent written reply to parliament, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb painted an alarming picture of the country’s agriculture sector. Crop failures, low yields, farmer migration to cities and compounding climate and economic crises have all laid waste to Pakistan’s most important economic sector. Add to this the devastating floods that hit the country in the monsoon season and you have a tale of crop loss, dead livestock, displacement, and major cash flow problems.
In fact, cash flow is enough of a problem that a significant portion of the letter addressed the falling credit disbursement to the farm sector by the government’s frontline agriculture support institution, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). Total disbursements from ZTBL have fallen by 54% in the past two years from Rs 85.56 billion in 2023 to Rs 39.66 billion in 2025. For a bank created in 1961 to serve agricultural development, the contraction reflects deeper structural weakening, and the failure of the government to act as the financier for the agriculture sector.
While these recent woes seem to spell a doomsday scenario, behind the scenes, Pakistan’s commercial banks have been picking up the slack. Disbursements of agricultural credit by commercial banks increased by 16.2% from Rs 2.2 trillion in 2024 to Rs 2.58 trillion in 2025.
The increase is no coincidence. Over the past few years, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has encouraged the country’s commercial banks to pick up the slack when it comes to providing financing to the agricultural sector. Historically, Pakistani banks have shied away from agriculture. With little understanding of crop cycles and the exact needs of farmers and even less effort to try and figure it out, lending to farmers has largely been collateral based and short term. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan