A parliamentary body Thursday expressed serious concern over share of a nominal amount of Rs 1 billion for Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir out of Rs 125 billion agriculture lending target assigned by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) for financial year 2017-18. The National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research, which met with MNA Shakir Bashir Awan in the chair, asked the ZTBL to increase agriculture lending target of Gilgit-Baltistan to improve the agriculture sector.
MNA Captain Muhammad Safdar (Retd) said that the share of Gilgit-Baltistan in agriculture lending is very low, adding that the ZTBL needs to increase it. He said that the ZTBL needs to provide dozers instead of tractors to farmers in Gilgit-Baltistan. The committee also expressed anger over the absence of President ZTBL Syed Talat Mahmood from the meeting and issued directives for him to ensure his presence during the next meeting.
While briefing the committee regarding total budgetary allocation for agriculture loans by the ZTBL during financial year 2017-18, ZBTL head of credit, Sanaullah said that out of total lending target of Rs 125 billion, the share of Punjab is Rs 91 billion, Sindh, Rs 18.625 billion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rs 8.250 billion, Balochistan, Rs 6.125 billion, and share of Gilgit-Baltistan/Azad Jammu & Kashmir is Rs 1.00 billion. "Out of total agriculture lending target, total share of Punjab stands at 72.8 percent, Sindh, 14.9 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 6.6 percent, Balochistan, 4.9 percent and total share of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir is only 0.8 percent," he said.
He said that according to ZTBL lending criteria, it provides credit facilities primarily to small farmers having 25 acres of irrigated land or 50 acres of un-irrigated area. The maximum loan limit is Rs 1.5 billion per borrower, he said, adding that the ZTBL provides 70 percent loan to subsistence farmers, 20 percent to economic farmers and 10 percent to big farmers. Secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Fazal Abbas Maken asked the ZTBL official to inform the committee about the percentage of disbursement of agriculture loan to farmers and middlemen.
On this Sanaullah said that the ZTBL never disburses loans to middlemen and it disburses 93.8 percent loans among small farmers. Abbas also briefed the committee about the bill 'The National Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Authority Bill, 2017.' He said that the ministry has further examined the bill and started study of neighboring countries' models as well as consultation with the Ministry of Science and Technology and private stakeholders. The ministry has farmed an alternate bill and submitted it before the minister, he said. The committee deferred the bill till next meeting.
Managing Director Kissan Support Services Limited (KSSL) also briefed the committee about the functioning of the department. He informed that the KSSL has been providing support services in an efficient manner to the ZTBL for last 11 years and is capable of providing support services in other areas as defined in the memorandum of association and articles of association, depending upon the requirements of the ZTBL. He further informed that during the last 11 years of operations, the KSSL has accumulated profit of Rs 487.863 million against the ZTBL's investment of Rs 100 million.
The meeting was also attended by MNAs including Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry, Syed Iftikhar-ul-Hassan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Shahnaz Saleem, Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani and Dr Fouzia Hameed.
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