ZTBL Vows to Finance Effective Machinery for Farmers And Boost Agriculture

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) has reiterated its resolve to introduce and finance cheap but effective agriculture machinery for farmers to boost agriculture in the country.

ZTBL and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) organized a national-level webinar on Tuesday aimed at uniting agriculture experts, academia, lenders, farmers, and other stakeholders to ensure food security.

The webinar being the first of its kind, is an attempt by ZTBL as a financial lender and PARC as a research institute to mitigate the challenges faced by the farming community in the country.

ZTBL had gathered farmers in its 31 zonal offices across the country under the leadership of President/CEO ZTBL Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti to attend the lectures/research findings of agriculture scientists.

The webinar was addressed by Chairman PARC Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali besides Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, farmers and independent experts.

Management of ZTBL and PARC reached a conclusion after extensive deliberations that there was a dire need to unite stakeholders of agriculture on a common platform for sharing their thoughts on challenges faced by food insecurity in the country.

President ZTBL Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti was of the view that small farmers should be strengthened by equipping them with financial and technical assistance. “Big farmers somehow manage their problems but small farmer solely depends on resources which they lack. ZTBL will ensure small farmers are properly equipped and informed,” Bhatti said.

Board member ZTBL Zaigham Mehmood Rizvi lamented that despite water scarcity, agricultural water is being wasted in the country for which stakeholders need to join heads to bridge the gap.

He said all agriculture universities should share their research proposals so that overlapping/duplication in research is minimized. “It is time to bring our research work to markets from labs and pilot projects,” he said.

Agriculture scientists delivered lectures to the farming community on food security, kitchen gardening, tissue culture technology, making wastelands productive, organic farming, post-harvest management, mountain agriculture, integrated pest management, and climate change impacts on agriculture.

ZTBL reiterated its resolve to introduce and finance cheap but effective agriculture machinery for farmers and this is the only way to boost agriculture in the country.

Chairman PARC and its agriculture experts on the occasion assured farmers that the research institute would come up with introducing seeds that could sustain climate challenges and produce better yields.

A series of webinars on the same pattern will be continued to reach out to the maximum number of farmers. Farmers on the occasion lauded ZTBL and PARC for organizing the webinar which they said was an effective tool for making farmers informed about new technologies, weather updates, and agriculture-related research works.