LAHORE - A seminar on “Creating Wealth in Smallholders Farms Through Efficient Credit Systems in Pakistan” is being held on Thursday (today) at a local hotel.

This seminar has been organised by The University of Queensland, Australia and Agahe Pakistan. The event aims to share the preliminary findings of study funded by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). This project is led by a young Pakistani economist Dr Shabbir Ahmad who is working as research fellow at Business School, The University of Queensland.

The objective of this seminar is to provide a platform for knowledge exchange, discussion and networking focused on smallholder’s access to agricultural finance. This event brings policy makers, regulators, financial institutions, NGOs, academia and many other stakeholders together and provide them the opportunity to meet and share their experience and research interests in agriculture financing.

This event will attended by Finance Minister of Punjab Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Australian High Commissioner, Ms Margaret Adamson, Pakistan High Commissioner for Australia Naela Chohan and Secretary Punjab agriculture and secretary Livestock & Dairy among other stakeholders, agriculture financing experts from State Bank of Pakistan, regulators, heads of financial institutions, NGOs and academia. The main focus of this research is to investigate the gap between credit demand and supply. The outcomes are focused on better policies to enhance the availability of credit for smallholders. This will ensure that farmers, and women in particular, can utilise entrepreneurial ventures to improve overall agricultural productivity and reduce poverty.