Islamabad: Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and HBL Zarai Services Limited have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote financial inclusion and enhance agricultural services for farmers across Pakistan. This collaboration aims to facilitate the farming community in adopting innovative agricultural technologies and practices to improve farm productivity and livelihood of the rural populace.
During the session, President/CEO ZTBL presented a video documentary showcasing Pakistan’s agriculture sector and ZTBL’s key role in supporting small and subsistence farmers. He shared that under PM Kissan Package, ZTBL has provided agri., loans to small & subsistence farmers amounting to Rs.37 Billion, including Rs.12 billion for Farm Mechanization through its extensive network of more than 500 branches concentrated in rural, underserved and unbanked areas. He also spoke about ZTBL’s initiatives such as “ZTBL Zarai Baithak”, which serves as a platform for farmer engagement and expert agricultural advisory
and the “ZTBL Mobile Van Service”, designed to enhance financial inclusion and provide agro-advisory services to remote farming communities. President/CEO ZTBL stressed the need for the banks to expand their outstanding portfolios and onboard New-to-Bank (NTB) customers for financial inclusion.
CEO HBL Zarai Services, Mr. Amer Aziz, emphasized the need for a farmer-centric approach, stating that a proper need assessment is critical in providing loans to farmers with the aim to generate increased cash flows. He stated that banks need to extend their reach to farmers making shift from Brick and Mortar Model. In response, President ZTBL emphasized that digitization is the ultimate solution to addressing farmers’ challenges and making financial services more accessible to farmers. To bridge the gap, ZTBL has launched several digital banking initiatives, including Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, WhatsApp Banking and farmer’s portal.
Mr. Amer Aziz, CEO of HBL Zarai Services, briefed about the HBL Zarai’s buy-back business model as a solution to the cash flow challenges. Under this model, farmers receive direct cash payments into their accounts in exchange for their harvest. HBL Zarai provides inputs and agro advisory services to increase farm productivity as well as farm machinery to reduce post-harvest losses, which range between 15-20%. He explained that HBL Zarai secures its sale proceeds by managing the harvesting process itself, thereby reducing financial risks for both farmers and the company. The prompt payments to farmers provide them timely cash for sowing of subsequent crop.
During the ceremony, the vital role of agricultural service providers for development of Pakistan’s agriculture sector was highlighted as agri service providers have expertise in operating modern agri- machinery that enhances farm output particularly for small farmers.
ZTBL and HBL Zarai reaffirmed their commitment to continued collaboration in expanding financial solutions tailored to the needs of small farmers, enhancing access to farm mechanization and modern agricultural techniques and strengthening digital financial services to bridge the gap between farmers and banking services.
