Hatton National Bank and Richlife team up to help dairy farmers

Thursday, 17 December 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

HNB Assistant General Manager – SME, Jude Fernando presenting a loan

Reaffirming its commitment towards the development of the dairy industry and the development of rural livelihoods, Hatton National Bank (HNB) has joined hands with Richlife Dairies Ltd to grant loans to farmers in the Kalutara District.

To mark the beginning of this partnership, 20 farmers engaged in dairy-collecting centres at Richlife Dairies in Panadura, Bandaragama and Wadduwa were granted loans of up to Rs. 25 million recently. The scheme enables farmers to purchase cows and grass land in addition to equipment related to milk processing, and other milk related products such as yoghurt and curd. Furthermore, it facilitates the construction of cattle sheds, the proper transportation of milk, and the storage of milk by providing the required chilling plants.

The loans were presented to the farmers at a function held recently in Bandaragama, Galanigama with HNB Assistant General Manager – SME, Jude Fernando as the chief guest. HNB was further represented by Senior Manager- Development Banking Vishwa Gunawardena and the Regional Head - South Western Region Dammika Dissanayake while Richlife was represented by Operational Manager, Parakrama Weerasekara.

This initiative to develop the dairy industry works under HNB’s broader ‘Agro Livestock Development Loan Scheme’ which was introduced especially for small scale dairy farmers and large scale milk processors. Since then the bank has demonstrated an unwavering commitment towards the promotion of the dairy industry, with the primary objective of enhancing the milk production and utilisation of milk in Sri Lanka.

HNB has been a pioneer among private sector banks in terms of development banking and its Development Banking Division, established in the late 1970s, accommodates SMEs, agriculture and micro financing. HNB was Sri Lanka’s first commercial bank to employ trained technical and agricultural staff. The bank has been a participating credit Institution on credit lines financed by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Japanese Bank for International Cooperation as well as the concessionary credit lines introduced by the Sri Lankan Government,.