Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity
Pakistan
Overview
Because improved technologies that are affordable, impactful, and safe have not yet penetrated much of the smallholder market in Pakistan, producers continue to use outdated and less effective technologies, leading to stagnant or dwindling productivity and returns. This is particularly the case in the horticulture and livestock sub-sectors. To combat these challenges, the $8.2 million Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity (PATTA) (2017-2021) funded through USAID worked to increase smallholder farmers’ access to markets and their overall development impact cost-effectiveness. By building on CNFA’s 10-year history of successful implementation in Pakistan, PATTA galvanized ongoing private-sector investment to commercialize the types of agricultural technologies that enable smallholders to increase their incomes, create jobs, and enhance economic growth and stability. These technologies included seeds, fertilizers, water pumps, improved plant and animal breeds, precision agriculture, and integrated soil fertility management, among others.
Impact
- 450 tools, technologies, and practices commercialized
- 400,000 stakeholders reached with improved practices and technologies
- 147,910 smallholder farmers applying modern agricultural technologies
- $29 million in sales enabled for agricultural technology products and services
Approach
CNFA collaborated with and built upon previous investments by USAID and similar development programs to improve the lives of smallholder farmers through the following three-pillared approach:
- Enabling Agricultural Technology-Related Businesses To Expand, Adapt, and Market Their Products and Services To Meet Smallholder Farmers’ Needs: PATTA undertook initial and ongoing market and cost-benefit analyses of available agricultural technologies and facilitated outreach to key stakeholders based on the findings of these analyses. The Activity also oversaw a competitive process that led to detailed memorandums of understanding and comprehensive technical support and capacity building. In doing so, PATTA made the business case for sustained private-sector investments in technology transfer, adaptations, outreach, and marketing such that profitable, inclusive output marketing opportunities for smallholders over the long term could be identified.
- Increasing Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Affordable, Appropriate, and Effective Agricultural Technologies: Sustained increased access to improved technologies adapted to smallholder needs required focused, strategic efforts by demand-side stakeholders who stood to profit from this outcome. These stakeholders included technology retailers like agrodealers and Pakistani agricultural agents who act as middlemen buying and selling inputs on commission and often making loans to smallholders – as well as microfinance institutions and banks that profit when they provide more loans and financial services to expanding agribusinesses and farmers’ associations. PATTA’s holistic approach of capacity-building technical support complemented the new marketing and outreach plans of technology companies and inspired sustained investments in the vast smallholder market.
- Scaling the Adoption and Use of Agricultural Technologies: PATTA supported the collective work of supply-and-demand side partners to launch and sustain demonstration activities that provided evidence of the value of improved technologies. These included the promotion of activities with a proven record of success, such as field days, demonstration plots, and peer-to-peer education by champion farmers. Such demonstration activities leveraged various mediums, including radio broadcasts, video, and mobile exhibits that reached women in purdah and other underserved groups.
