Islamabad: A new study by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Pakistan's leading digital microfinance Bank, Mobilink Bank has highlighted a growing financial vulnerability among women farmers in Pakistan, finding that many are turning to borrowing to manage the impact of climate shocks while still facing limited access to formal financial services. The findings point to an urgent need for more inclusive, climate-responsive financial solutions that can help women farmers protect livelihoods, recover faster and build greater resilience.
The study, 'Designing Gender-Responsive Climate Finance: A Diagnostic Study and Product Framework for Women Farmers in Pakistan,' draws on field research across eight districts of Punjab and Sindh and identifies a critical gap between women's contribution to agriculture, their exposure to climate risks, and their access to formal financial services. The findings were unveiled at a ceremony in Islamabad that brought together government representatives, financial regulators, banks, development finance institutions and development partners to explore how evidence can be translated into practical financial solutions for women farmers.
Adviser to the Finance Minister Adnan Pasha attended the launch as the guest of honour and underscored the need to formally recognize women farmers as economic actors and drivers of Pakistan's agricultural economy. He said the government was actively considering policy recommendations emerging from the study and called on financial institutions to develop systems and products tailored to women's needs, particularly by addressing barriers related to access to finance, collateral and climate resilience.He also acknowledged Mobilink Bank's role in advancing women's financial inclusion and encouraged continued efforts to develop solutions that respond more closely to women farmers' needs.
More than nine in ten women farmers surveyed experienced an extreme climate-related event, including heatwaves, flooding, heavy rainfall or drought-like conditions, in the previous five years, while more than 80% reported crop losses or a negative impact on farming. Borrowing ranked among the first- or second-most common coping strategies across every district. In Khushab, every woman reporting a coping strategy had borrowed money, while more than half had also sold livestock, potentially undermining future income.
The findings reveal deep-seated structural and policy gaps that need to be tackled on priority. 67% of Pakistan's employed women work in agriculture, yet only 1.5% of agricultural households are formally recorded as female-headed. Land ownership remains equally limited, with only about 2% of ever-married women aged 15-49 owning land alone or jointly, while 97.2% had not inherited land or a house.
In Sindh, 99.1% did not own land alone or jointly. These barriers are compounded by a significant financial and digital gender gap conversely 56% of men have a full-service financial account compared with just 14% of women, while mobile-wallet ownership stands at 48% among men and 11% among women.
The need for solutions is becoming increasingly urgent as climate risks intensify. Pakistan's 2022 floods resulted in more than US$30 billion in damage and economic losses, while at least US$16.3 billion was estimated to be required for resilient reconstruction.
Dr. Sajid Amin Javed, Deputy Executive Director (Research) at SDPI, said the study's strength lay in zooming climate finance down to the micro-farmer level, adding that its gender lens was especially critical given that half of Pakistan's population remains largely unrecognized as active agricultural workers. He said strengthening the rural economy particularly agriculture and livestock was essential to strengthening Pakistan's broader economy, and that partnerships with institutions like Mobilink Bank, with their access to large-scale customer data, were vital to sustaining this line of research.
Khowla Shoaib, Head of Strategy, Sustainability and Women Financial Services, Mobilink Bank said, 'The Bank's commitment to women in agriculture is reflected in its portfolio, with agriculture representing approximately 60% of total GLP and women accounting for over 21%. She said the findings of the SDPI study validated the Bank's existing assessment of the key financial and climate-related barriers faced by women farmers, while providing further insights that have helped strengthen its current portfolio and inform the development of new gender-responsive products for women farmers.'
Dr. Khalid Waleed, Research Fellow at SDPI, presented three proposed financial products emerging from the study: an input market loan of Rs 50,000 to 500,000 over two years with a 3 percent insurance premium to account for recurring climate shocks; a solar asset-backed financing facility, designed to reduce reliance on women selling personal gold to fund household solar systems; and a saffron entrepreneurship loan under a gender-transformative financing model. He recommended that loan applications be linked directly to women rather than routed through male household heads, to prevent funds from being diverted, and proposed community mobilization through female relationship officers to support uptake.
The study moves beyond diagnosis to propose a practical framework for designing gender-responsive climate finance, with implications for financial institutions, regulators, development finance institutions and development partners.