LAHORE: Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani announced on Friday that all the arrangements for providing interest-free loans of 300 billion rupees to the farmers are in the final stages.

He was speaking at a meeting held at the agriculture house today to discuss the timeline of “Transforming Punjab Agriculture Plan”. Chief Minister, Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif's plan of spending more than 400 billion rupees will be an important milestone for agricultural development and farmers' prosperity, said the Minister.

He said that the loan scheme is ongoing with the cooperation of Agriculture Department and Bank of Punjab. He further said that under this flagship program, 5 lakh farmers will be provided with interest-free loans. To ensure the transparency of this scheme, Punjab Kissan card is being issued soon.

Agriculture Minister Punjab said that 7,000 tube wells will be transferred to solar system across the province. Besides, 5,000 super seeders and 2,000 rice shredders will be provided to the farmers at 60% subsidy. In Punjab, 7300 water courses will be improved at a cost of 80 billion rupees. 2 billion rupees will be spent on the re-organization of the agriculture extension sector. 500 agricultural graduates have been recruited on contract to provide better extension services to the farmers.

Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo speaking at the meeting said that institutional reforms are being introduced under the “Transforming Punjab Agriculture Program”. State-of-the-art research centers are being established to increase the quality and production of cotton, wheat and rice. Legislation is being made for the supply of quality fertilizers and agricultural medicines at fixed prices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024