LAHORE, April 11: Banks must adopt agricultural financing as a viable business activity for development of the agriculture sector in Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Executive Director Muhammad Ashraf Khan said on Wednesday.

Khan said this while presiding over the “Farmers’ Literacy & Awareness Programme on Agricultural Financing,” jointly organised by SBP and Habib Bank at NRSP Training Centre in Bahawalpur.

Vice-Chancellor Islamia University Bahawalpur Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar who was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session, stressed on the need to synergise the efforts of all stakeholders in improving access to credit, especially to the agriculture sector.

SBP’s Agricultural Credit and Microfinance Department head Dr. Saeed Ahmed said: “SBP’s promotional initiatives and policy interventions have translated into around 200 per cent increase in the flow of credit to the agriculture sector from Rs137.4 billion in 2005-06 to Rs263 billion in 2010-11,” he said.

“Despite this encouraging growth, the disbursement to the agriculture sector is around 40 per cent of the total estimated credit requirements. The SBP has planned to increase the disbursement to 70-80 per cent during the next five years covering 3.3 million borrowers,” he added.