Pakistan launches Agri Stack

August 8, 2025 (MLN): Pakistan has unveiled the Agri Stack initiative, an integrated digital infrastructure designed to transform the country's agriculture through technology, data, and innovation.

The stakeholder consultation titled “Agri Stack   Building Digital Infrastructure for Pakistan’s Agricultural Future” was hosted at the National Incubation Center and brought together senior representatives from Federal and Provincial governments, agri-tech startups, telcos, fintechs, academia, farmer associations, and international development partners.

The Agri Stack aims to address long-standing challenges in the agriculture sector, including fragmented data systems, lack of verified farmer identities, inefficient subsidy delivery, limited access to credit, and weak market linkages.

The digital framework will enable precision advisory, crop insurance, smart subsidies, and farmer-centric services, forming the core of an inclusive transformation under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Digital Nation Pakistan vision.

Federal Minister for IT & Telecom, Ms. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, emphasized that Agri Stack will act as the backbone of tech-driven agricultural development, with verified farmer identities, integrated land data, and consent-based data exchange enabling smarter policymaking and service delivery.

The initiative is being led collaboratively by the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication (MoITT), the Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MNFSR), the Land Information & Management System (LIMS), and the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

Director General of LIMS, Maj General (R) M Ayub Ahsan Bhatti, called Agri Stack/PAKGROW a transformative initiative that will directly uplift smallholder farmers and influence future policymaking.

CEO LIMS, Dr. M Waqar Yasin, stated that LIMS' role is to be a technical backbone and National Agri Database, which will integrate data from various sources to deliver farm-specific insights to stakeholders.

CEO Ignite, Mr. Rafique Ahmed Buriro, echoed the commitment to creating a secure, open, and scalable infrastructure.

He pointed to key components such as satellite-driven crop intelligence, trusted payment systems, digital market platforms, and farmer digital registries.

A Steering Committee co-chaired by MoITT and MNFSR, a Technical Working Group on data and cyber security, and pilot squads comprising public and private sector members was formed.

Over the next 12–18 months, the focus will be on piloting use cases such as weather-indexed insurance, credit via alternative data, and smart subsidies through LIMS.

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