Comment by Riaz Haq on August 30, 2026 at 6:21pm

AI cooperation with China brings hope to Pakistan's small farmers

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/279275714/ai-cooperation-with-c...

For many small farmers in Pakistan's Punjab province, the country's most populous province, farming has always felt like a roll of the dice against the whims of the weather. But local farmers may soon see their fortunes change.

Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah, Punjab's agriculture minister, is attending the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo, which runs through Sunday, in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province. He said his delegation has a clear mission: to find Chinese partners who can help bring AI-powered farming tools to millions of smallholders back home.

According to the Pakistani official, many small farmers in Punjab province lack access to reliable, timely information. Meanwhile, climate change is making weather patterns increasingly erratic, with sudden downpours, prolonged droughts and scorching heat waves adding new risks to agricultural production

Punjab's agricultural authorities are now developing an AI-powered digital monitoring network designed to deliver weather forecasts, crop monitoring and real-time data on soil, water and pest control directly to farmers.

"We want to use AI to monitor the weather, soil and water, and to digitally track crops as well," Shah said. "We also want to use AI for pest control, so that a farmer can simply send a picture of a plant and get help identifying the problem. "

"If farmers can receive this information through a digital platform, they can make better decisions and reduce losses. That is why we see AI as an important tool for improving agricultural productivity and supporting farmers in Punjab," he said.

"That is exactly why we are here -- to find partners and learn from China's experience," he added.

In fact, China and Pakistan, including Punjab, have already shared a solid foundation in agricultural cooperation. Shah said Punjab signed at least six memorandums of understanding following previous visits to China and has been actively following through on them.

Chinese companies have also played a significant role in Punjab's high-tech farm mechanization program. Shah estimated that about 90 percent of the machinery acquired under the program -- including harvesters and tractors -- came from China. Now, this partnership is evolving beyond hardware to include smart technologies and intelligence.

Ali Mustafa Dar, adviser to the chief minister of Punjab on artificial intelligence and special initiatives, observed that China does not treat AI as something separate from economic development, but integrates it across manufacturing, logistics, cities, agriculture, transport and public services.

"China thinks long term. It builds the infrastructure. It experiments and learns. And when something works, it has the capacity to take it to extraordinary scale," he said.

As China's first national comprehensive big data pilot zone, Guizhou offers precisely the kind of experience Punjab is looking for. Dar said Guizhou is particularly interesting because it demonstrates that AI begins with strong data foundations.

Guizhou is a key hub for China's national "East Data, West Computing" project. This national strategy operates similarly to a power grid, shifting the heavy data processing demands of China's economically bustling eastern coast to resource-rich western regions. Crucially, the project utilizes the western region's abundant green energy such as wind and hydropower, making it a major milestone in green technology and carbon reduction.

By late July 2026, Guizhou housed 50 key data centers, with total computing capacity reaching 176.57 EFLOPS. Nearly 98.4 percent of this capacity was dedicated specifically to AI-related computing.

Dar said he is keen to understand how Guizhou has built its data ecosystem -- from infrastructure, data centers and standards to governance, industry and the applications built on top.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 1, 2026 at 8:06pm

Pakistan to fiberise 10m homes
Sets 2029 target; fragmented networks, low FTTH threaten broadband ambitions

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2580911/pakistan-to-fiberise-10m-homes




KARACHI:
Pakistan, long criticised for inadequate public service delivery, now sees a rare opportunity to leap into modern governance through technology. But its race towards a digitally enabled future depends on whether it can overcome deep connectivity gaps, high infrastructure costs, and sluggish fibre-to-the-home penetration, as the government rolls out an ambitious National Fiberisation Plan aimed at delivering high-speed broadband to 10 million households by 2029.
While the initiative promises 100 Mbps fixed internet for every user and aims to elevate the country into the top 50 global speed rankings, experts warn that fragmented networks, limited fibre density, spectrum inefficiencies, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities could stall progress unless policy, investment, and execution align at scale.
The country is also targeting 80% fiberisation of mobile towers to enhance network capacity and reliability, and to improve Pakistan's standing in the top 50 countries on the Ookla global speed rankings.
The initiative is being led by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) in collaboration with the World Bank, as part of the Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP). The main objective of the programme is to enhance the government's capacity to deliver digitally enabled public services for citizens and businesses.


To achieve its targets, the ministry is currently seeking to hire a consultancy firm to develop a roadmap for attracting investment within the existing policy framework.
The plan will also explore how Administrative Incentive Pricing (AIP) can be used as a complementary policy tool to promote efficient spectrum use and incentivise fibre deployment for backhaul and middle-mile connectivity, particularly to support 4G densification and 5G readiness. It will also clarify the complementary roles of fibre (long-haul, middle-mile, and deep access) and spectrum (last-mile wireless), ensuring that AIP discourages spectrum hoarding while encouraging sustainable, long-term investment in fibre-based infrastructure.


Syed Muhammad Taha Owais, a fibre-optic infrastructure specialist, said demand for high-speed internet is rising sharply in urban areas for both commercial and domestic use, which could boost business productivity and output.
"Pakistan ranks among the lowest globally for internet speeds due to obsolete infrastructure and the slow adoption of new technologies, particularly FTTH (fibre-to-the-home)," he said. All stakeholders, including the government and the private sector, should fast-track fibre deployment nationwide to improve connectivity and support the digitisation of business and governance systems.
Owais, a senior official at Optix Pakistan, underscored the importance of high-speed internet, adding that the deployment of fibre optic in commercial areas and posh localities has increased the uptake of internet and increased the performance of the businesses.
At present, Pakistan has over 211,000 kilometres of deployed optical fibre, including 75,967 km of long-haul and 135,506 km of metro fibre.
"For a technopreneur, fibre is not infrastructure; it is oxygen and digital power," he said. This fiberisation plan is Pakistan's launchpad. Every startup, every smart city, every digital service depends on it.

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