Message from President ZTBL

It is an occasion of great pride and joy that this year our bank is celebrating golden Jubilee. This prime institution has gone through the evolutionary process successfully since 1961 and now I feel proud to say that ZTBL is a leading specialized financial institution in the country catering the needs of the small farmers of Pakistan.
The Bank has been playing an instrumental and proactive role in modernisation of agriculture, boosting productivity and enabling growers, particularly small landowners to increase their farm produce and income. ZTBL alone serves around 6 lac farmers annually and has annual share of about 32% in total institutional credit.
Since inception, the Bank has disbursed Rs 715,704 billion up to 31.03.2011 which includes financing of 543,147 tractors and 150,234 tube-wells. While meeting the demand for mechanisation, attention was given towards the provision of agricultural credit to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of agriculture productivity.
Under this government, ZTBL has shown historic improvement in its performance in every field of its operation, during 2008/2009/2010. Following are some of the significant initiatives taken by the Bank during the last three years: Due to shortage of fertiliser in the open market, farmers faced a lot of difficulties in its procurement and had to spend more money than the normal price. In order to overcome this difficulty Kissan Support Services Limited (KSSL), the subsidiary of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, arranged supply of inputs (Fertiliser, Liquid Fertiliser, Seed, Pesticides & Agri. machinery) to ZTBL borrowers under "Awami Zarai Scheme" through direct producers nominated by KSSL. Under this scheme, loans are provided at the time of sowing and recovery is made at the time of crop harvesting. The Federal Government launched Benazir Tractor Scheme in 2009-10 for provision of 10,000 local/imported tractors to the farmers on subsidised price@ Rs 200,000/- per tractor. Implementation of the scheme was assigned to ZTBL which was completed successfully.
Another product namely "Crop Productivity Scheme" has been introduced through which Fertiliser is provided to the registered growers of Agromills through Bank's subsidiary Kissan Support Services Ltd on the guarantee of Agromills. The recovery of such financing would be made by the concerned Agromills out of sale proceeds of produce to be supplied by the registered growers to the Agromills.
The present Federal Government realising the importance of agriculture and role of modern technologies to improve crop production, gave special emphasis to the development of this sector. The former ADBP now ZTBL was established with the aim to provide credit with technology to the farming communities. Today in line with the visionary directions of President Islamic Republic of Pakistan, ZTBL has again embarked upon to provide sustainable rural finance with technical services to strengthen this agriculture sector to accomplish its mandate of creation. The management of the Bank has established Agriculture Technology Division (ATD) to revitalised developmental role and dissemination of latest technology and taking special initiatives to improve crop yields and income of the farming community. ZTBL being the main agricultural lending institution in the country with a network of 31 Zonal Offices, 357 Branches and with a team of over 1300 Mobile Credit Officers, can play a vital role in transforming the agriculture sector.
The recent global climate changes have adversely affected the environment and agriculture sector in particular. This phenomenon demands introduction of renewable energy technologies to minimise carbon pollution and water conservation technologies to address the environmental effects. To mitigate adverse affects of climate change, ZTBL is working on a strategy of combining latest and cost effective technologies coupled with credit facilities for development of the agriculture sector in Pakistan. To achieve the desired targets, the Bank has taken a new initiative to establish the Office of Climate Change under Agriculture Technology Division to develop green products which could bring carbon credits for farmers and earn foreign exchange for the country with the special focus on developing Bank's image as "GREEN BANK".
Human Resource Policy have been rationalised and reframed in order to enable ZTBL to play a pivotal role in the field of agricultural financing. The strategy of HR is based on two main pillars ie enhancing the capabilities and competencies of the existing human resource as well as induction of new blood in various tiers of management. Thus a blend of banking and agriculture expertise is the main aim of human resource development of the Bank. HR policy of the bank is also focused on skill improvement/development of its employees at all levels.
In the coming years, with the introduction of new agricultural technologies and various innovative packages, customer's friendly products and services, the ZTBL will remain a torch bearer and vibrant institution for all stake-holders. I, at this moment assure the farming community to continue our efforts to enhance agriculture productivity through timely provision of credit and innovative technologies at their doorsteps. On this momentous occasion, we also remember those of our ZTBL colleagues who are no longer with us. May Allah rest their souls in eternal peace.
I look forward for effective participation of all my team members in the Golden Jubilee activities throughout the year. I would like to wish you and your families a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2011, our Golden Jubilee Year, and pray that may Allah shower His blessings upon us and our country.