As Pakistan reels from back-to-back climate disasters, Rizq has officially launched its initiative to rehabilitate 100,000 acres of flood-damaged agricultural land in Punjab from Khanewal. The effort, part of Rizq’s Seeding Good campaign, aims to enable smallholder farmers to prepare for the fast-approaching wheat season and prevent an impending food security crisis by providing them interest-free loans in the form of agricultural inputs and land preparation.
This year’s monsoon floods have badly exposed the fragility of Pakistan’s agricultural system. Over 2 million acres of farmland have been damaged nationwide, including crops that anchor both food and export like rice, maize, sugarcane, and cotton. The losses have been most severe in Punjab, the country’s food basket, where thousands of farmers are struggling to restore their livelihoods before the sowing cycle begins.
To tackle this, Rizq is scaling its Kisaan Dost Program (KDP) – a proven agricultural model that has already rehabilitated 10,200 acres, benefiting 800 smallholder farmers since its launch in 2022. By providing interest-free financing, quality inputs, and on-ground agronomic training, Rizq is building farmer resilience and independence from exploitative middlemen.
The first phase of this scaled up program was launched in Khanewal on Wednesday, 15th October, whereby 100+ local farmers were onboarded, and the levelling of the fields began through tractors. In the first phase of the Seeding Good campaign, 4 districts will be targeted – Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Bahawalpur and a total of 10,000 acres will be rehabilitated across the four districts.
“This is not just a response to floods; this is our attempt to rehabilitate those who have been silently sustaining us for decades” said Mian Farooq Ahmad, Chairman of the Board for Rizq and a seventh-generation agriculturist at the event.
“These farmers are the backbone of our food systems, and our aim is to empower them and in turn, strengthen our roots.”
