HBL Microfinance Bank (HBL MfB), in partnership with the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), has expanded its Climate-Smart Agri-Financing initiative to farmers across Punjab, moving the collaboration from its pilot stage toward a province-wide implementation.
The initiative combines SUPARCO’s satellite-based remote-sensing capabilities with HBL Microfinance Bank’s field presence and agricultural financing expertise. Through the expanded program, the bank will use satellite data, crop monitoring and remote-sensing analytics to improve its understanding of land use and crop conditions, supporting more informed assessment of agricultural financing risks. Punjab has been identified as a key area for the initiative because of its importance to Pakistan’s agricultural economy. The wider rollout is intended to provide technology-enabled financing while helping the bank strengthen the resilience of its agriculture portfolio through improved information about conditions on farms.
Amir Khan, President and CEO of HBL Microfinance Bank, said farmers are increasingly exposed to unpredictable weather, water stress and other climate-related risks that affect their livelihoods and Pakistan’s food security. He said the collaboration with SUPARCO would allow satellite intelligence to become part of agricultural financing decisions, helping the bank make financing assessments that are more informed, timely and aligned with conditions faced by farmers. Zafar Iqbal, Member of the Space Application and Research Wing at SUPARCO, said the organization has 35 years of spatial data archives and analytical outputs supporting agricultural monitoring through satellite technology. SUPARCO has also developed machine learning and deep learning models through a Geo-AI-enabled computational platform to generate agricultural insights.
The collaboration will also incorporate SUPARCO’s Space4Climate initiative, which provides probabilistic risk assessments for climate-related hazards such as floods, droughts and hailstorms. These capabilities will support farm-level risk assessment, lending decisions and post-loan monitoring through an analytical engine integrated with HBL MfB’s agricultural lending system. SUPARCO will further facilitate public access to agricultural intelligence through the Space4Climate portal. The initiative is expected to strengthen the use of data and satellite technology in agricultural finance while supporting responsible lending and greater resilience across Pakistan’s agricultural sector.
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