FIDA grew out of a UN-backed initiative into a Section 42 not-for-profit company. Established in 2006 as Farmers’ Integrated Development Association under the VSWA Ordinance 1961, it was registered as a Section 42 company with SECP in 2025.
Year 2003
FAO and PARC launch the National IPM Programme.
Year 2005
The FToF approach begins in Vehari villages; Plan International Pakistan joins.
Year 2006
Established as Farmers’ Integrated Development Association under the VSWA Ordinance 1961.
Year 2008
Donor-funded project work begins with the Green Belt Project, with Plan International Pakistan (2008 to 2011).
Year 2025
Registered as a Section 42 not-for-profit company with SECP.
Year 2026
Social protection and inclusion initiatives launched.
Today
FIDA works in three provinces and 20 districts, with participatory learning models that foster inclusive participation, local ownership and long-term impact.
- 786,303Lives impacted
- 30Donor-funded projects since 2008
- 20Districts
- 2,006Year founded
Founder and early leadership
FIDA was founded by farmers. Men and women practitioners of the Farmer Field School (FFS), who had learned Integrated Pest Management (IPM) through the Farmers’ Training of Facilitators (FToF), came together with one purpose: to share what they had learned with farmers who had not been able to attend the programme. As the law requires, they selected a seven-member Executive Body from among the founders, and in 2006 the organisation was established as the Farmers’ Integrated Development Association.
From the beginning, FIDA’s strength has been the founders’ own experience. They knew from their own fields that a farmer who observes, tests and decides together with neighbours changes practice more lastingly than one who is only advised. This belief remains the foundation of FIDA’s participatory learning model.
A turning point came when Plan International Pakistan engaged FIDA as an Implementing Partner in the livelihood domain. The partnership extended the organisation’s reach to more communities and laid the base for its later work in nutrition, climate resilience, market empowerment and water, sanitation and hygiene. In 2025, FIDA was registered as a Section 42 not-for-profit company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Today the organisation is led by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Muhammad Iqbal, who is himself one of its founding members.
“FIDA began as a group of farmers who believed that knowledge belongs to everyone. Two decades later, that belief still guides every programme we run. We are grateful to the farmers, women and young people who learn with us, and to the partners who trust us. Our promise is to remain close to the communities we serve, and to keep learning with them.”
Muhammad Iqbal, Chief Executive Officer