Karandaaz Pakistan has entered into a partnership with Kissan Gudam, a venture of the Hajisons Group, to strengthen agricultural communities and support the modernisation of Pakistan’s farming ecosystem through improved storage infrastructure, digital financial services and market access. The collaboration is designed to address several challenges faced by smallholder farmers, including post-harvest losses, limited access to formal credit and restricted market opportunities. Through the partnership, the two organisations aim to bring storage, financing and market linkages together through a digitally enabled agricultural platform.
The initiative will allow smallholder farmers to protect their harvested produce through modern storage facilities while also providing access to Electronic Warehouse Receipt based financing. Under this model, stored agricultural commodities can be used as collateral to access formal financing, potentially giving farmers greater flexibility to manage the timing of their sales and avoid being forced to sell their produce immediately after harvest. The partnership is also intended to improve market transparency, strengthen farmers’ access to formal financial services and contribute to more sustainable livelihoods in rural communities.
The signing ceremony was attended by Karandaaz Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Waqas ul Hasan, Kissan Gudam Chief Executive Officer Farhan Tahir, Kissan Gudam Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Anam Tahir, and Tom A. Peter, Economic Officer at the United States Embassy in Islamabad, among other participants. The partnership brings together Karandaaz Pakistan’s focus on financial inclusion and economic development with Kissan Gudam’s technology-based approach to agricultural storage, trading and financing.
Kissan Gudam’s model combines hermetic storage technology with digital trading and agricultural financing. The company uses hermetic storage solutions provided by GrainPro, a global provider of post-harvest storage technology. Unlike conventional warehouse arrangements, GrainPro’s hermetic cocoons are designed to be portable and comparatively affordable, allowing storage facilities to be established closer to farming communities. This can help reduce transportation requirements and post-harvest losses while preserving the quality and quantity of stored crops.
The storage infrastructure is also intended to improve the reliability of agricultural produce as collateral for financing. By keeping crops in controlled storage and linking them to digital records, the model can provide financial institutions with greater visibility over the commodities supporting warehouse receipts. Kissan Gudam plans to scale this post-harvest ecosystem across rural Pakistan through the partnership, with the broader objective of expanding financial inclusion and supporting more equitable economic opportunities for farming communities.
Waqas ul Hasan said Pakistan’s agricultural economy requires more than access to credit and also needs infrastructure and market connections that allow financing to function effectively. He said the partnership supports an approach under which storage can be located closer to farmers, allowing them to preserve their produce and potentially achieve better returns. He also said the model could enable the public sector to reduce its involvement in commodity markets while maintaining national food security, describing the initiative as potentially transformational for the agricultural ecosystem.
Farhan Tahir said providing farmers with tools to preserve the value of their produce, access formal financing and connect with better markets could create pathways towards greater financial security and stronger rural livelihoods. He said the partnership would also support climate-resilient storage while improving farmers’ ability to participate in formal economic activity. Through a centralised digital solution, Karandaaz Pakistan and Kissan Gudam will combine technology-enabled storage monitoring with warehouse receipt financing.
Anam Tahir explained that Kissan Gudam’s digital wallet is directly connected to its warehouse infrastructure. This integration allows stored agricultural produce to be verified and used as collateral for financing. According to her, the system can enable collateral-backed financing to be disbursed within minutes, compared with the weeks traditionally required under conventional financing processes. The digital connection between stored commodities, verification and financing is intended to make the process more efficient for farmers.
Tom A. Peter described the partnership as an example of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States in the agricultural sector. He highlighted the role of GrainPro’s hermetic storage technology, developed by a US-based company, in supporting smallholder farmers and contributing to the formalisation of Pakistan’s agricultural economy. The use of modern storage technology is expected to form an important part of the partnership’s efforts to reduce losses and improve the value that farmers can retain from their harvested crops.
Through the agreement, Karandaaz Pakistan and Kissan Gudam aim to digitally transform parts of Pakistan’s agricultural value chain by connecting farmers with modern storage, financial services and market opportunities. The partnership brings together physical agricultural infrastructure and digital financial tools, with Electronic Warehouse Receipt financing serving as a mechanism for turning stored produce into usable collateral. The initiative is expected to focus particularly on smallholder farmers and rural communities that face challenges in accessing formal finance and modern post-harvest infrastructure.
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