ISLAMABAD, NOV 30 (DNA) – Fostering the development of agricultural innovation, Telenor Pakistan is empowering the agriculture ecosystem in the country with the official unveiling of Khushaal Watan platform designed to digitally enable the rural community and farmers.

The platform was unveiled by Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs at Telenor Pakistan’s 345 campus in Islamabad. The event also anchored around a discussion between experts from Telenor Pakistan, GSMA and Tabadlab to contribute towards a report with key recommendations to nurture the agriculture ecosystem in the country.

The agriculture sector contributes 24% towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pakistan and accounts for half of the total labour force in the country. Developed especially to boost this important sector of the country, the improved and advanced Khushaal Watan platform is equipped with special features, such as live video calls with experts in and out of the field, ranging from livestock experts to medical and legal experts to enable the rural community.

The platform’s custom-made, localised services offer users relevant advice on weather, healthcare, crops and livestock management along with all necessary information about pests and diseases affecting their produce. With the advanced ‘Khushaal Watan’ platform, Telenor Pakistan is at the forefront in digitalising the agriculture ecosystem for prosperous rural communities across the country.

Addressing the audience at the event, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, “With fast-evolving developments in technology impacting economies around the world, it is important that we take along every person and every sector to match pace of change through digitalisation.

Agriculture is the largest contributing sector towards Pakistan’s foreign exchequer while employing half of the country’s labor force; this depicts the great potential that can be harnessed through digital interventions to enhance productivity.

Khushaal Watan platform by Telenor Pakistan comes as a promising development to enable the rural and farming community in the country. Interventions like these will ensure progressive and sustainable growth of the economy by enhancing productivity and contribution to the national exchequer.”

“Agriculture is Pakistan’s economic backbone and in this era of digitalisation, it is crucial for digital interventions in this sector to enhance efficiency. We are proud to extend our expertise in technology to empower the farmers and rural community” said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan.

“I am grateful to GSMA for their global expertise and knowledge as a partner to further the digital agriculture; and for Tabadlab for partnering with us to share the potential and recommendations to make this sector future ready”. 

“The GSMA unifies the global, mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. We are excited to combine our experience in the design and development of agriculture-focused services with the innovation-led approach of Telenor Pakistan. 

And, furthermore, we are delighted to see that the ground-work conducted by the GSMA AgriTech team during the development of the highly successful Khushaal Zamindaar service has resulted in the new Khushaal Watan platform,” said Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA.

Telenor Pakistan has been empowering the many societies in the country since the past 16 years and has evolved to provide digital interventions in various verticals while going beyond connectivity. Its journey to empower the agriculture community started with Khushaal Zamindaar where users can call 7272 to listen to customized advisories based on their location and language and also get one-to-one expert consultation; today, it has over 14 million subscribed users.

Khushaal Watan platform is a step forward in its mAgri journey and the report with expert recommendations from GSMA and Telenor Pakistan in partnership with Tabadlabs is expected early next year. = DNA

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