Islamabad, the 1st February, 2018: 42nd meeting of the Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research was held today at 10:30 a.m. in Committee Room of Parliament House, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Malik Shakir Bashir Awan, MNA. 

2.         Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research brief the Committee about the implementation status of the previous recommendations made of the Committee and also briefed about the Bill “The National Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Authority Bill, 2017”. After detail deliberations the Committee deferred the said Bill till its next meeting.

3.         Head Credit, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) briefed the Committee on total budgetary allocation for agriculture loans to farmers by ZTBL during financial year 2017-18.  He informed that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has assigned agri lending target of Rs. 125.000 billion to ZTBL with province wise share. He further informed that the bank provides credit facilities primarily to small farmers having 25 acres of irrigated land or 50 acres of un-irrigated area.   

4.         Managing Director, Kisan Support Services Limited (KSSL) also briefed the Committee about the functioning of the department. He informed that KSSL provide support services in an efficient manner to ZTBL for the last 11 years and capable of providing support services in other areas as defined in the memorandum and article and association, depending upon the requirements of ZTBL. He further informed that during the last 11 years of operations, KSSL has accumulated profit of Rs. 487.863 million against the ZTBL’s investment of Rs. 100 million.

5.        Capt. (Retd.) Muhammad Safdar, Mr. Tahir Iqbal Ch., Syed Iftikhar-ul-Hassan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Ms. Shahnaz Saleem, Mr. Faqir Sher Muhmmad Bilalani and Dr. Fouzia Hameed MNAs attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by senior officers of the Ministry of National Food Security & Research, KSSL and ZTBL.