ISLAMABAD:Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) will provide financial assistance to Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) to extend its research outreach to the doorsteps of farmers for improving their livelihood opportunities across the country.
In this regard ZTBL will collaborate with PARC for the up-scaling of PARC’s innovative farming technologies to transform the agriculture sector for enhancing per-acre crop output.
To this effect, both organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a collaborative relationship in promoting and adapting the latest agricultural technologies, best crop management practices, and agriculture mechanization for improving farm efficiency and for the benefit of the farming community.
Under this MoU PARC and ZTBL will work jointly to conduct awareness webinars, field days, seminars, and workshops to disseminate the latest developments in the agriculture sector for uplifting the livelihood of the farming community, and both sides will also develop partnerships for running joint ventures, pilot projects, and research activities.
They will also establish demonstration plots, research trials on modern agricultural machinery, agronomic practices, and crop diversification, and ZTBL will conduct Zarai Baithaks as an integrated approach and invite PARC experts for their research outreach for the appropriate benefits of the farming community in various parts of the country.
Under the agreement, PARC will also facilitate ZTBL in training and capacity building of bank staff in improved agricultural technology, crop production practices, dairy management, and agricultural entrepreneurship and provide technical assistance and guidance in the transformation of ZTBL Farm Islamabad into an agriculture tourism center.
The PARC will also help the bank for devising and developing new agriculture loan products and value addition in existing loanable credit products for the development of the agriculture sector and shares their research outputs with manufacturers, suppliers of agricultural machinery, and progressive farmers across the country.