LAHORE: Farmers in the province have brought 16.7 million acres of land under wheat sowing against a target of 16.5 million acres, thereby surpassing the target by 200,000 acres.
Key factors behind this achievement include the timely announcement of the wheat policy, an early sowing campaign, regular divisional review meetings and field visits, and mandatory wheat cultivation on state land.
Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani disclosed this while addressing media persons jointly with Punjab Information Minister Uzma Bukhari on Tuesday.
The minister claimed that compared to last year, the price of certified wheat seed has been significantly reduced, resulting in a 27 percent increase in its sales. He added that during the tenure of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, all fertilizers in the province are being made available to farmers at rates even lower than the officially notified prices. As a result, sales of urea fertilizer during the current wheat sowing season have increased by 26 percent.
Highlighting the flagship Chief Minister Punjab Kisan Card programme, Kirmani informed that so far one million kisan cards have been issued to small and medium farmers. Over the past 13 months, interest-free production loans amounting to Rs 250 billion have been provided to farmers through the kisan card, with an encouraging recovery rate of 98 percent. He further said that out of the one million beneficiary farmers, 450,000 have entered the banking system for the first time.
Referring to high-power tractor programme, the minister said that only Rs 3 billion were spent on agricultural machinery during the last ten years whereas the current Punjab government has allocated Rs 66 billion for this purpose in just two years.
The programme aims to ensure availability of up to 1.4 horsepower per acre in line with international standards. Tractors are being distributed through a transparent balloting and subsidy mechanism. Under the green tractor programme, Rs 25 billion have been allocated to provide 30,000 tractors with a subsidy of Rs 1 million per tractor. So far, 14,000 tractors have been handed over to farmers, while delivery of the remaining units is in progress.
About hi-tech mechanization financing programme, he said that interest-free financing of Rs 30 billion is being provided in the current financial year for the supply of modern agricultural machinery. The programme covers more than 1,500 high-tech machines, including rice and wheat combine harvesters and high-power tractors. To date, more than 3,600 applications have been received from farmers, service providers and companies.
The minister said that under the smog control programme, 10,000 super seeders are being provided in phases to reduce smog caused by the burning of rice residues, for which Rs 10 billion have been allocated. So far, 5,000 super seeders have been distributed, while applications for the remaining 5,000 have been received. The balloting process has been completed and their distribution will be carried out during the current year.
He said that 20,000 implements will be provided over the next three years, with a 60 percent subsidy on 38 types of small and medium-sized implements. For the financial year 2025–26, 12,000 applications have been received for the provision of 2,500 agricultural implements. The minister also highlighted the establishment of model agriculture malls, potohar agriculture transformation programme and programmes being carried out in the livestock sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.