This was stated by President Zarai Tarqaiti Bank Limited (ZTBL) Chaudhary Zaka Ashraf while talking to the Stat Television news channel on Thursday.

He said that the main objectives of the establishment of the bank was to extend facility of soft loans to the farmers besides introducing modern technology so that the desired results in the agri sector could be achieved in an effective manner.

He said that ZTBL is following the vision of President Asif Ali Zardari who is keen to develop the agriculture sector in a true manner.

Ashraf added that following the mission and vision of the President, ZTBL has introduced several schemes to achieve the target in shortest period of time.

He said that Non Performing Loans (NPLs) of the bank were the lowest while deposit was at the highest. He said improvement was made with the good policies of the bank, adding, this is a record in the history of ZTBL.

Deposit of the bank has jumped to Rs. 10 billion, he said.

Ashraf said that solar pumps schemes are being introduced among the farmers so that they could install the pumps along the fields.

The installation of pumps would help improve the agri production while dependency on diesel and electricity would also be decreased after utilizing this technology, he added.

The bank has taken the initiatives to reduce the burden on electricity and diesel and for this purpose, the bank provided facility to the farmers for the purchase of solar pumps to increase the production of crops, Ashraf said.