STAFF REPORT IBD: Telenor Pakistan has partnered with the Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa to provide agriculture and livestock information on mobile to farmers in the province. In addition, farmers are also open to use the Easypaisa platform to trade in agricultural commodities. Information will be provided via push SMS, voice recordings and small community gatherings.
Purpose of this initiative is to benefit farmers by providing them relevant and timely information, and the ability to carry out related mobile transactions on their handsets, an official of Telenor told the media last week.
He also said that all information will be provided by the provincial government while Telenor Pakistan will act as the distribution channel of the information. A pilot project will initially be run in Mardan district, he added.
Arbab Muhammad Ayub Jan, Minister for Agriculture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was the chief guest at the agreement signing ceremony. The MoU was signed by Roar Bjaerum, Vice President Financial Services, Telenor Pakistan, and Arbab Ayub.
In his remarks, Roar Bjaerum said that we will provide farmers the information they need to grow better crops and to raise hardy livestock. By doing so, we want to help them make more informed decisions when it comes to agriculture and livestock planning and trading.