KULOB, October 16, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Branches of five banks in Khatlon’s Kulob zone have provided totaling 558,600 somoni in loans for development of bee keeping in the area, which is two times more than last year, Abdukarim Nematov, the head of the branch of the National bank of Tajikistan (NBT) in Kulob said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, branches of Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank) alone have provided 492,400 somoni in loans for development of bee keeping in the Kulob zone.

A 256,000 credit has been given to bee keepers in the Baljuvon district, Nematov said.

The NBT’s branch head noted that local banks had also provided 3,348,942 somoni for production of vegetable as well as watermelon, melon and gourd growing.

Besides, local grain producers and livestock breeders have received 6.576 million somoni and 2.888 million somoni credits respectively and a 559,000 somoni in loans have been provided to potato growers.

In all, 40,652515 somoni, including a 20 million somoni government credit, have been provided by local banks over the first nine months of this year for development of the agrarian sector in the area, Nematov said.