Khushhali Microfinance Bank (KMBL) continuously engages in initiatives for the empowerment and uplift of segments at the grassroot level of the economy. Under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility, Khushhali Microfinance Bank regularly conducts initiatives for the education and training of population segments that lag behind due to inadequate access to resources. Free of Cost trainings for small farmers are part of one such initiative by the bank. Every quarter, KMBL organizes training on an important crop of the region in rural areas. Small local farmers are invited to attend the training where a crop expert from Pakistan Agriculture Research Council talks about modern and cost effective farming techniques, use of pesticides, water management and ways to improve yield. For this quarter, Khushhali Microfinance Bank organized a training in Khairpur on ‘Dates’. This is an important fruit crop in Pakistan in terms of its commercial value and is ranked as third most important fruit export for the country. Pakistan has a suitable agro-ecological region for the growth of dates.

Khairpur is the largest contributor to the country’s Dates yield. The training was held on September 27, 2018 where more than 200 farmers attended the event.  The training was delivered by Dr Ghulam Sarwar Markhand, Ex-Director of Date Palm Research Institute at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur. He talked about various key issues related to date palm trees, suitability of land for crop growth, precautions form viral diseases, methods to take care of fruit quality and yield. Information was also given in detail on processing, value addition and marketing of the fruit to help small farmers get better understanding of value chain.

Khushhali Microfinance Bank hopes to educate farmers and enable them to get improved returns from their farming activities. Small farmers are an integral part of Pakistan’s agri-based economy.