PESHAWAR:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Cooperative Department, Abdul Haleem Khan Qasuria on Monday directed the department for either re-activation of the cooperative bank or frame a comprehensive strategy for an alternative system to provide soft loans to the farming community to enable them to
play role in meeting the food requirements of the province.
He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting of the Cooperative Department here. Besides, Secretary Agriculture Dr Mohammad Israr Khan, Secretary Livestock, Fisheries & Cooperative Department, Mukhtiar Ahmad and other authorities and district-level officers attended the meeting at large.
The caretaker minister was told that the Cooperative Department has been established to provide assistance to forest farmers, vocational centres to impart skills to women, beekeeping and other socio-welfare-oriented initiatives.
The cooperative bank has also provided loans to farming communities on soft terms and conditions, whose recovery rate is 92%.
The meeting was told that currently 333 people were linked with societies of 8 different sectors while housing societies have also been formed under the auspices of the Cooperative Department.
Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Haleem Khan Qasuria stressed the need to work for the progress and development of deprived and downtrodden classes of society and initiate steps for the welfare of marginalized classes.