QUETTA: The Balochistan government has claimed that farmers of the province are not being provided agriculture loans by the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and decided to take up the matter with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and management of the bank.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri on Friday. The meeting was attended by federal Minister for Food Security and Research Malik Sikandar Hayat Bosan, senior officials of the federal government, Chief Secretary of Balochistan Saifullah Chattah and members of Zamindars Action Committee.

The chief minister said that denying agriculture loans to Balochistan’s farmers by the ZTBL was a serious matter and the provincial government would take up the matter with the finance minister.

The meeting also discussed other problems being faced by farmers in the province.

Members of the Zamindars Action Committee informed the meeting that their applications for agriculture loans were often rejected by the ZTBL which created a number of problems for them.

They also sought attention of the government towards other problems the farmer community was facing in the province.

The chief minister assured the members of committee that his government would take measures for solving farmers’ problems and would strongly take up the agriculture loan issue with the federal government.

Mr Bosan said that he was visiting Balochistan on special directives of the prime minister to consult with the provincial government and representatives of farmers for finding a way to solve problems of farmers in province.

A team of Zamindars Action Committee held a meeting with the prime minister in Islamabad shortly and presented him a ‘charter of demand’.

The federal minister informed the meeting that under the Prime Minister Kisan Package interest-free loans would be provided to Balochistan’s farmers. He said drip irrigation systems would be installed in Balochistan for which foreign support would be sought.

He said a team of experts of the Asian Development Bank and the federal government would visit Balochistan this month and prepare a feasibility report for the implementation of this project. He said the federal government was considering a proposal to allocate Rs1 trillion for providing loans to farmers across the country.

The meeting discussed proposals to convert tube-wells to solar power, import of apples from a neighbouring country and other issues of farmers.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2016