KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank has notified the establishment of ‘Zarkhez-e’ portal to facilitate small farmers/tenants obtaining collateral-free digital financing from banks and microfinance banks (MFBs) of maximum amount of up to Rs1 million for one year duration.
“A key feature of the NSFSI [National Subsistence Farmers Support Initiative/renamed as Zarkhez-e] is the in-kind disbursement of at-least 75% of the financing to ensure provision of the quality inputs (seed, fertilisers, pesticides and diesel etc.) to the farmers from reputed agri-merchants on-boarded by banks/MFBs while up to 25% can be disbursed in cash to meet other farming expenses,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a notification issued on Tuesday.
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Details about Zarkhez-e – Asaan Digital Zarai Qarza (Easy Digital Agricultural Loan) – suggest landowners can obtain the loan of up to Rs100,000 per acre to a maximum of Rs1 million. While tenants can obtain the financing of up to Rs100,000 per acre to a maximum of Rs500,000.
Moreover, landowners are entitled to acquire the loan in cash of up to 25% of the total debt, while tenants are restricted to the loan in cash at a maximum of 15%, (IBIs/Islamic Banking Institutions to follow the respective Shariah compliant mode), according to details attached with the notification.
The collateral-free and risk coverage financing scheme for small landowners and farmers carries a processing fee of Rs1,200/- that “shall be paid by the applicant through online portal to cover necessary costs of PMD, NADRA, LIMS [Land Information Management System] verification etc”.
The NSFSI (Zarkhez-e) will enable the farmers to apply for agriculture loans at a centralised portal, without the need to visit a bank branch. After necessary verifications and agronomic assessment through LIMS, the application will be forwarded to the bank(s) chosen by the applicant for further processing.
Zarkhez-e has been established in the backdrop of the introduction of Government of Pakistan’s risk coverage scheme to enhance bank financing for small and marginalised farmers as well as the farmers of unserved and underserved areas.
The scheme was originally introduced on August 20, 2025, the central bank notification read. The Tuesday’s notification provided details about the scheme.
The financing extended to small and marginalised farmers under Zarkhez-e will not only have the 10% first loss coverage in line with the aforesaid risk coverage scheme for small farmers but also be entitled to operational cost subsidy of Rs10,000 per borrower for net increase in the number of outstanding borrowers, it added.
Explaining criteria, the central bank said landowners and tenants holding lands of up to 12.5 acres in Punjab and KP, 16 acres in case of Sindh, and 32 acres in case of Balochistan are eligible for the loan. They should be resident Pakistani farmers and aged between 21-60 years. They must have a valid CNIC as per NADRA record and mobile phone SIM registered in the name of borrowing farmer.
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While most of the banks/MFBs have already integrated their systems with the centralised portal and LIMS and have on-boarded the agri-merchants, the others are encouraged to complete their integrations and agri-merchants on boarding processes at the earliest.
To make the name of the portal and mobile app user friendly for farmers, NSFSI has been renamed as “Zarkhez-e” with a tag line “Asaan Digital Zarai Qarza,” and the same will be used for all communication and awareness purposes.
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