LAHORE: The Punjab government is considering providing a subsidy of Rs 3,000 per bag of DAP fertilizer to farmers owning up to 25 acres of land during the upcoming Rabi season with a proposed allocation of Rs 20 billion for the initiative.
However, the subsidy will be capped at farmers owning a maximum of 12 acres who will be eligible to receive up to Rs 36,000 in total at the rate of Rs 3,000 per DAP bag. The programme, intended to support wheat cultivation, will run from November 1 to November 30, 2025.
Under this scheme, the DAP fertilizer will be offered at subsidized rates through registered dealers. It will be mandatory for dealers to maintain daily sales records. Both farmers registered under the Kissan Card programme and other eligible landholders will benefit from this initiative which is expected to cover nearly 98 percent of Punjab’s farming community, according to sources familiar with the development.
Earlier, a review meeting regarding the wheat cultivation support programme 2025–26 was held at the Agriculture House in Lahore under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani. Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Osama Khan Laghari and Punjab Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo were also in attendance.
During the briefing, it was reiterated that the government is actively working on a mechanism to include even the non-computerized areas under the wheat support programme. The minister stressed the need for a robust awareness campaign to educate farmers on timely wheat sowing, drill-based cultivation, certified seed usage, balanced fertilization, weed control, and irrigation practices.
Sahoo highlighted that over 3,000 Kissan card-registered dealers have been engaged to supply subsidized fertilizer. The government officials from the agriculture and revenue departments will oversee the process to ensure transparency.
Explaining the sales procedure, the secretary said that the entire process has been digitalized. Farmers will be verified via the Fertilizer App using CNIC-based eligibility confirmation from the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA) and biometric verification through NADRA. Once verified, farmers will deposit their share of the cost, and the remaining subsidy will be transferred directly to the dealer’s bank account on the same day.
The meeting was also attended by Additional Secretary Task Force Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Agriculture Director Generals Naveed Asmat Kahloon, Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, Abdul Qayyum, Agriculture Project Director Dr Anjum Ali, representatives from the Seed Corporation and PITB, and other senior officials of the Agriculture Department.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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