Staff Reporter Islamabad
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Mr. Shaukat Tarin, held a meeting with Board of Direc-tors of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), led by the President Muhammad Shahbaz Jameel at the Finance Division.
The President Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) briefed about the overall steps taken to restructure organization. The key focus is to improve operations by streamlining the existing procedures of the Bank.
The President Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) also underlined the Model Farm concept to educate and facilitate farmers for improving value-added products such as cheese-making, pasteurized milk, fish farming, hydroponics etc for enhancing farm income.
It also included water conservation initiatives such as solar tube wells, drip irrigation for improved harvesting and farming practices.
In his remarks, the Finance Minister com-mended the idea for financial inclusion of the rural population and emphasized upon maximum partici-pation of women in the farm to retail value chain.
The Finance Minister underscored the advisory role of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in facilitat-ing farmers for improved profitability.
The Finance Minister also encouraged ZTBL to extend credit for building agri malls, commodity warehouses and cold storage facilities on public private partnership basis to eliminate the role of middleman.
There is a need to transform the whole agriculture sector to ensure the farmer gets higher income for his pro-duce. The ZTBL can play a pivotal role in this re-gard, he added.
In his concluding remarks, the Finance Minister acknowledged the financial turnaround of the ZTBL and urged to streamline the existing human resource, introduce innovative banking solutions, improve recoveries and use modern techniques to maximize its potential.
