“Sarsabz Paagh” award recognizes top-performing dealers

In our region, a turban or “paagh” is considered a symbol of honor. Accordingly, Fatima Fertilizer invited 180 of its top performing dealers from all over Pakistan to attend a special awards ceremony held in recognition of their outstanding performance and support to the company. The awards were associated with the title of “Sarsabz Paagh” with the objective of recognizing and encouraging those Sarsabz dealers who attributed their success to the success of Fatima Fertilizer.

More than 40 high-profile farmers who achieved top yields in their districts were also invited to the event along with the dealers. The company honored them and expressed its commitment to creating a deeper bond with the end user of their fertilizers i.e. the farmers. These farmers are key recommenders of the latest technology, nitrate-based Sarsabz Fertilizers and high-end farm services provided by Fatima Fertilizers.

The invited dealers expressed their full confidence in Fatima Fertilizer who has always promoted their important role in ensuring the country-wide availability of fertilizer to help the farmers. The event was attended by senior officials of Fatima Fertilizer, including Rabel Sadozai, Director of Sales and Marketing at Fatima Fertilizer.

While expressing her views, Rabel Sadozai said, “Dealers play a pivotal role in ensuring country-wide availability of fertilizer to support the farmers. The main purpose of introducing the Sarsabz Paagh program is to honor and recognize the important role of Sarsabz dealers in enabling the agriculture sector to contribute toward economic prosperity and achieve food security at the national level.

While the havoc caused by recent floods has inflicted serious damage to the agriculture sector, it also indicates that we need to work together with unity and mutual recognition to recover from this crisis.”

Sarsabz Fertilizer has long been a strong advocate of giving due importance and recognition to Pakistan’s underserved farmers in order to curb national food security challenges in the face of constantly increasing population and food demand. Sarsabz Fertilizer is constantly striving to counter the negative impact of the current flood crisis on our national food security and the phenomenal expected increase in the future demand for staple food in Pakistan.

The event concluded on a high note where all participating dealers pledged to continue playing a vital role in advising the farmers on achieving maximum crop yield. Under the Sarsabz Paagh program, while selected dealers were recognized as brand ambassadors of Sarsabz to boast its signature outlets across the country, selected farmers were also declared to be a part of Fatima demo plots, field days, and high-profile farmer events that will help educate and spread best practices amongst the larger farmer community.

Fatima Fertilizer receives international gold-standard acclaim for best HSE performance

Lahore: Fatima Fertilizer recently received an international acclaim by the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) through the Green Leaf Award that recognizes outstanding performance in safety, health and environment (SHE) in fertilizer production among the association’s members and is an integral part of its protect & sustain product stewardship initiative.

The honor was claimed by Fatima Fertilizer by marking the first runner-up position in the nitrogenous fertilizers category of IFA’s prestigious 2022 Green Leaf Award for showcasing excellence in the overall management of safety, health and environment (SHE) in the fertilizer manufacturing operations. The exalted IFA Green Leaf Award is considered a global gold-standard by fertilizers manufacturers around the world and awarded by the IFA being the only global fertilizer association having 400 members in 70 countries around the world.

An independent panel of experts diligently evaluate all performance indicators in accordance with the awards’ evaluation criteria before the most deserving winners are selected. These global recognitions encourage and enable companies to strive for the highest standards of safety and well-being in the workplace and also help to protect the environment. The award is hosted after every two years and receives overwhelming interest by all member organisations, including a record number of 25 eligible applications for 2022.

While speaking about this achievement, Mr. Fawad Ahmad Mukhtar, CEO Fatima Fertilizer said, “We are proud of this achievement and will remain committed to our continued efforts towards becoming a global leader in practicing HSE management systems to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees.”

Jugnu Mohsin debuts her acting talent

with a purpose-led short film titled “Khaki Desan”
Jugnu Mohsin, a renowned public figure and mother of popular vocalist Ali Sethi, has recently debuted her acting talents through a purpose led short film called Khaki Desan. Full version of this short film was recently launched on the occasion of Eid ul-Azha across all social media platforms of Sarsabz Fertilizer, a brand of Fatima Fertilizer.

The project is a joint collaboration between Jugnu Mohsin and Sarsabz Fertilizer with the purpose of raising awareness about the decline of cotton production in Pakistan and its impact on the local community of Pakistani rural women.

The storyline is inspired by a nostalgic realisation from the past when our mothers would open the rustic family trunk and take out the hand-knitted khaees and dariyan made from locally grown indigenous cotton and proudly set them for the frequent guests. Now, not only are the guests just occasional but we have fast fashion taking over with polyester homeware and clothing made at a large scale; making them more or less disposable items to be replaced after a few seasons use. In this “trend” change not many are aware that in the background how an entire industry has been left to silently die.

The story unfolds as the protagonist, Jugno Mohsin searches for the lost variety of cotton called Khaki Desan and learns the lost art of making hand woven cotton fabric from it. Fatima Fertilizer helped her by providing technical knowledge to grow the cotton variety as well as supported her in setting up a workshop under the name “Haveli Crafts” to market the final products. At a micro level, the workshop provides a great working environment and honourable source of income to almost 100+ women of the village Sher Garh but on a macro level it is reigniting an industry that supported millions of women in agriculture and rural economy.

Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited, is a local fertilizer player that through its brand Sarsabz Fertilizer has time and again proven that it cares about our rural community, its traditions, its culture and most of all its economy. It has recently launched on its YouTube Channel a new Sarsabz Kahani i.e. a series of short films based on true stories from the rural community.

Sarsabz Fertilizer marks the significance of cotton through the nostalgic journey of ‘Khaki Desan’

Karachi, July 13, 2022: The nostalgic memories of our mothers opening rustic family trunks and taking out hand-knitted khaees and dariyan made from indigenous cotton and proudly setting them for the frequent guests have faded away. However, to try and revive this lost cultural heritage and tradition, Sarsabz Fertilizer released the second episode of its Sarsabz Kahani web series titled “Khaki Desan” which focused on the true story of Jugnu Mohsin, a well-recognized entrepreneur and public figure, who quickly realized the dearth of good quality local cotton and its dying breed called Khaki Desan which nobody was striving to preserve.

This latest film is part of a strategic initiative called ‘Sarsabz Kahani’, which highlights true inspirational stories of farmers passionately fond of their motherland and its cultural heritage and was released on the momentous occasion of Eid ul-Azha as a short film on July 10, 2022, across its social media platforms.

Seeking technical assistance from Sarsabz Fertilizer, which is a brand of Fatima Fertilizer, the protagonist went on to successfully harvest the finest crop of Khaki Desan cotton to create an exceptional quality of khaddar, which is a hand-spun and hand-woven cotton cloth being used in the sub-continent since many centuries. Sarsabz Fertilizer extended their unravelling contribution and support to Jugnu Mohsin to implement this community support program as a sustainable initiative which can re-engage and empower a community of thousands of rural women in the centuries-old craft of cotton spinning and weaving and earn a decent livelihood for their families. Sarsabz also supported Jugnu Mohsin in setting up a workshop under the name “Haveli Crafts” to market the final products.

The story of this unique collaboration is multifaceted in many ways. Most importantly, it refers to the recent decline of cotton production in Pakistan which is detrimental to our economic stability. As per the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, the cotton crop holds a 0.8 percent share in GDP and contributes 5.2% to the agriculture value addition. Cotton also holds a 51 percent share in the country’s total foreign exchange earnings. Despite this economic significance, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has reported that in the past 10 years cotton production has almost halved from 13.6 million bales in 2011/12 to about 7 million in 2020/21.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has also reported that the crop area of cotton has significantly reduced to 2.2 million hectares, the lowest since FY82. Although in the current context, the economic survey of Pakistan for FY 2021-22 reported that the cotton crop increased from 7.1 million bales reported last year to 8.3 million bales during 2021-22. However, this gradual recovery in crop yield is faced with many challenges including a significantly reduced crop area, inconsistent gas supply to fertilizer plants resulting in limited availability of locally produced urea, and increasing cost of farm inputs for an already burdened farmer due to high market inflation.

Pakistan’s economy is largely dependent on the cotton industry and its related textile sector, and the crop has been given principal status in the country due to its integral role in economic development. Increasing the crop yield of cotton is the need of the hour given its economic significance. Also, marketing of local cotton varieties and products can also help boost our foreign exchange earnings and increase export profitability margins.

Fatima Fertilizer elevates Rabel Sadozai as the first female Marketing Director within the agriculture sector

Lahore: Fatima Fertilizer is pleased to announce that Rabel Sadozai, a seasoned marketing professional, has been recently promoted to lead the Sales and Marketing function within the organization. Rabel has become the first-ever female within Pakistan’s agriculture and fertilizer sector to have claimed such a high ranking position.

This comes as a bright futuristic prospect since Rabel is a true representation of 22 million empowered women, directly or indirectly associated with the Agriculture sector of Pakistan. In line with the new role, Rabel will utilize her 22 years of earned experience to set even higher standards within her work domain. Having been associated with Fatima Fertilizer for over 9 years, she was able to effectively lead the functions related to marketing communications.

Her most significant achievement is related to steering the effort of introducing Pakistan’s first-ever Kissan Day on December 18, 2019, which was duly recognized by the Federal Government and has been adopted as an annual event ever since by all Government and industry stakeholders. In addition, she has also been instrumental in promoting farmer-focused communication across traditional and digital media to highlight their ongoing challenges and promote solutions to uplift their economic and social status.

Chairman of Fatima Group, Mr. Fawad Ahmed Mukhtar has also time and again stressed on the need for innovative and insight based marketing to reach out to the farmers of Pakistan and help them increase their yield and productivity. Sarsabz Fertilizer’s disruptive marketing strategy based on the brand promise of 10% greater yield has been a game changer not just for the company but farmers livelihood and Pakistan’s prosperity at large. He also added that he and his team are working hard to promote equal opportunity within the company and believe in promoting a culture where women feel valued and empowered.

Pakistan has a lot of potential for growth but undeniably, one of the biggest untapped potential is its enormous women population that still awaits inclusion in the national economy. Women participation in Pakistan’s labour force currently stands at 25 percent as against a staggering 82 percent of men. Within this paltry number of working women, 90 percent take up extremely low-paid unskilled jobs in the traditional agriculture and informal sectors.

The situation is equally grim in the civil sector where women mostly occupy low to middle-ranking positions, while the corporate sector only accounts for 5 percent of women holding senior managerial positions. Fortunately, there is growing realization with regards to the underrepresentation of women in the formal economy and it has led to encouraging policy reforms and on-ground action to foster inclusion of women across all fields of life.