Telenor Pakistan has announced the launch of Kissan Dost Bashir, a conversational artificial intelligence voice bot that the company describes as the country’s first of its kind for the agriculture sector, designed to deliver real-time digital advisory services to farmers across Pakistan and encourage wider adoption of smart farming practices. The bot is available around the clock in the Urdu language and can be accessed by dialling 7272 or through the 7272.pk portal, removing the barrier of smartphone literacy or data connectivity that has historically limited digital agriculture tools to a narrow segment of Pakistan’s rural population.
Kissan Dost Bashir is built to serve three core advisory functions: providing farmers with real-time market rates for agricultural produce, delivering weather-based crop guidance tailored to current and forecast conditions, and offering livestock support, all in Urdu to ensure accessibility for the rural communities that form the backbone of Pakistan’s agricultural economy. The agriculture sector contributes nearly 23 percent to Pakistan’s national gross domestic product and serves as the primary source of livelihood for millions of people in rural areas, making meaningful digital intervention in farming advisory a matter of considerable economic consequence well beyond the technology sector.
Telenor Pakistan Chief Marketing Officer Ahsan Maykan stated that Kissan Dost Bashir was designed specifically with rural communities in mind, combining voice technology, artificial intelligence, and real-time data insights to make agricultural advisory more accessible and inclusive. The use of voice as the primary interface is a deliberate design choice that reflects the practical realities of Pakistan’s farming population, where literacy constraints and limited familiarity with text-based digital applications have historically excluded large numbers of farmers from benefiting from technology-driven information services. By building around a voice call model accessible from any mobile phone, the initiative sidesteps the device and literacy barriers that have constrained previous digital agriculture efforts.
The launch fits within a broader national conversation about artificial intelligence’s role in modernising Pakistan’s farming sector. Provincial governments across the country have been exploring tools including predictive crop models, smart irrigation systems, and drone-based monitoring to improve productivity, manage water resources more efficiently, and build resilience against climate-related disruptions that increasingly threaten agricultural output. Telenor Pakistan’s Kissan Dost Bashir adds a telecoms-delivered layer to this ecosystem, extending real-time advisory reach to farmers in areas where physical extension services are either absent or insufficient, and where a simple phone call to an artificial intelligence voice assistant could meaningfully influence a farming decision.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
