Kathmandu, July 6:

Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Friday stressed the need to empower small farmers by giving them access to a skill enhancement opportunities, technologies and capital for economic development of the country.

Inaugurating the 11th anniversary of the Sana Kisan Bikas Bank Limited in the capital, Dr. Khatiwada said that the government, banks and the concerned authorities should offer incentives to motivate small farmers towards agriculture which helps to reduce poverty.

He said that the banks and financial institutions should take banking services to the rural areas for uplifting the livelihood of the people.

Poverty will not still when there is an increase in the per capita income of the people, Khatiwada said, and added that it was necessary to generate employment in order to reduce poverty.

The central bank governor stressed on the need to strengthen and integrate the banking and micro finance services to uplift the livelihood of the rural people through access to financial services.

He said that the central bank was ready to support the banks and financial institutions in their endeavours to uplift the livelihood of the rural people.

He urged the Sana Kisan Bank Limited to expand its services to the rural areas through strengthened organization.

Keshab Prasad Bhattarai, secretary at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, said that the government was effortful to take facilities to the farmers in order to reduce poverty.

Poverty will be reduced through cooperatives, he said and added that the government had launched various programmes through cooperatives.

Keshav Badal, chairman of the National Cooperatives Federation (NCF), said that the livelihood of the people could be uplifted through cooperatives.

He said that government should ensure the rights of the farmers and empower them for economic development of the country.

Considering the importance of cooperatives in the national development, the government and cooperative activists have planned to organize various events such as rallies, awareness campaigns, publicity programmes, conferences and tours among others.

Jalan Kumar Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the Sana Kisan Bank Limited said that the bank has been providing financial support to rural farmers in order to uplift their livelihood.

He said that bank has been providing loan to farmers in subsidy interest rates in agricultural occupations including livestock farming, poultry farming and vegetable farming among others.

He said that the bank has been supporting the government’s youth and self employment programmes.

The bank has been providing financial support to 1,152,000 people of 225,000 households till date, he said and added that there is the plan of expanding the services in the future.

Shree Krishna Upadhaya, Uttam Ratna Dhakhwa, Chandra Adhikari and Rudra Bhattarai were felicitated at the function for their notable contributions.