Islamabad: Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) hosted a high-level delegation from the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) at its Head Office, Islamabad. The delegation was led by Mr. James Robert
Okoth, Officer-in-Charge, FAO.
The President/CEO ZTBL shared a documentary presenting ZTBL’s contribution toward the uplift of small
and subsistence farmers, who constitute 96% of the farming community in Pakistan. He shared that ZTBL
has a network of 501 branches, of which 449 are located in rural, underserved, and unbanked areas of the
country. ZTBL’s presence in 58% of the rural mouzas / deh of Pakistan, reaffirm its role as the bank of
small farmers. Mr. Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti briefed the delegation on ZTBL’s turnaround performance of past
three years, marked by highest financial growth supported by launch of digital banking products and
services, employment generation opportunities for fresh graduates/postgraduates, and outreach
initiatives such as ZTBL Zarai Baithaks and Mobile Van Services. All these initiatives of bank are aimed to
increase small farmers’ productivity both in crops and livestock sector which can significantly contribute
to agricultural GDP.
Mr. James Robert Okoth appreciated ZTBL’s pivotal role in supporting Pakistan’s agriculture sector and
shared insights into FAO’s operations, which span 75 districts across the country. He highlighted FAO’s
work in crop and livestock value chains, climate change adaptation, farmer group-based trainings, animal
tagging, and meat production initiatives etc. He further highlighted the FAO projects in flood affected
districts of Pakistan.
During the discussion, FAO expressed its keen interest in partnering with ZTBL for the training of farmers,
whereby ZTBL may also showcase its financial products and services to farming community. Both sides
acknowledged strong synergies in their mandates, particularly in the areas of small farmers training e.g.
Zarai Baithak (ZTBL initiative) and farmer field school (FAO), livestock development, and value chain
enhancement.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to explore collaboration aimed at enhancing farmer
outreach, improving productivity, and promoting sustainable growth in Pakistan’s agriculture sector.
