ISLAMABAD: HBL Microfinance Bank (MfB), in partnership with the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), has announced the expansion of its Climate-Smart Agri-Financing initiative to farmers across Punjab, marking a significant step towards transforming agricultural finance through satellite data intelligence and technology-driven risk assessment.
SUPARCO is Pakistan’s national space agency, mandated to develop and apply space science and technology for national development. It has extensive experience in satellite-based remote sensing, Earth observation, geospatial information and space-based applications, supporting national priorities including agriculture, climate, disaster management and governance.
The strategic collaboration marks a transition from pilot implementation to a province-wide scale-up, bringing technology-enabled agricultural financing to farmers across Punjab, a critical region given its central role in Pakistan’s agricultural economy.
The initiative, which has already entered the implementation phase, combines SUPARCO’s satellite-based remote-sensing capabilities with HBL Microfinance Bank’s extensive field presence and expertise in agricultural financing. The expanded programme will enable the bank to leverage satellite data, crop monitoring and remote-sensing analytics on a broader scale. It will also support more informed assessments of land use and crop conditions, strengthening the resilience of the bank’s agricultural portfolio.
On the occasion, Amir Khan, President and CEO of HBL Microfinance Bank, said Pakistan’s farmers were at the frontline of climate change, facing increasingly unpredictable weather, water stress and other risks that directly affected their livelihoods and the country’s food security.
“Our collaboration with SUPARCO allows us to bring the power of satellite intelligence into agricultural financing, helping us better understand conditions on the ground and enabling financing decisions that are more informed, timely and aligned with farmers’ realities. We see this partnership as a model for how technology, finance and national institutions can come together to address some of the most pressing challenges facing Pakistan’s agricultural sector,” he added.
Zafar Iqbal, Member (Space Application and Research Wing), SUPARCO, said that the commission brought decades of experience in agricultural monitoring through satellite technology, supported by 35 years of spatial data archives and analytical outputs.
He further said that Building on this expertise, SUPARCO has developed and trained machine learning and deep learning (ML/DL) models that generate accurate and reliable agricultural insights through a Geo-AI-enabled computational platform.
“This capability, complemented by SUPARCO’s Space4Climate initiative, which provides probabilistic risk assessments for major climate-related hazards, including floods, droughts and hailstorms, enables the integration of agricultural and climate-risk intelligence into the agri-lending process,” he noted, adding that by bringing these capabilities together, SUPARCO has developed an analytical engine to support HBL MfB’s agri-lending system through more informed lending decisions, farm-level risk assessment and post-loan monitoring.”
Through the collaboration, SUPARCO’s remote-sensing and satellite data capabilities will complement HBL Microfinance Bank’s extensive field presence, enabling the bank to enhance agronomic assessments. Together, the two organisations are advancing a more data-driven and climate-resilient approach to agricultural finance, built around better information, responsible financing and greater resilience.
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