A new study by Pakistan’s leading digital microfinance Bank, Mobilink Bank, and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) 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 high-level policy dialogue jointly hosted by SDPI and Mobilink Bank 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. Pasha appreciated SDPI’s continued leadership in advancing these reforms and Mobilink Bank’s efforts to promote women’s financial inclusion, urging greater focus on solutions tailored to women farmers’ needs.
Khowla Shoaib, Head of Strategy, Sustainability & Women Financial Services, Mobilink Bank said that 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.
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 presented by Ayesha Naeem, lead researcher from SDPI revealed the 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.
While addressing the few gaps that the report addresses, Engr. Ubaid Zia, Head of Energy Unit at SDPI mentioned that women are doing the agricultural work, absorbing the climate shocks, and already borrowing to survive, yet the formal financial system does not treat them accordingly. In a country ranked among the world’s most climate-vulnerable, this is not a peripheral issue; it sits at the heart of Pakistan’s agricultural resilience. The exclusion is structural, built into products designed around land ownership, individual mobility, and digital access, none of which reflect the reality of a woman farmer.
