LAHORE: The Punjab government will provide loans worth Rs150 billion to 500,000 small farmers on easy terms under the Kissan Card programme.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz approved the launch of the Kissan Card on Friday to provide subsidised farm inputs to farmers.

At a meeting on agricultural reforms, the chief minister claimed the project was the biggest in the history of Pakistan.

“Farmers will be given an agricultural loan of Rs30,000 per acre for the purchase of the best quality seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides. Various types of other subsidies will also be provided to the farmers through the Kissan Card,” she said.

Model agriculture centres will be established across Punjab in collaboration with the private sector. These centres will have modern agricultural machinery, training, pesticide seeds, and demonstration plots. She said in the first phase, one model centre would be set up in each district.

Farmers would get rid of fake fertilisers and medicines. She directed the agriculture department to compile data on the production and demand of each crop. She approved the state-of-the-art centre of excellence for research and development on cotton, wheat, and rice crops. She agreed to control the administrative affairs of the centre of excellence through a board and link these research centres with the regional universities. She also directed to build a research and development centre at a cost of Rs2bn in Agriculture University Faisalabad with the cooperation of China.

“This Pak China R&D Centre will have a genome centre, germplasm resource, speed breeding, and research facility on climate change.”

The chief minister also directed the authorities to present amendments to the Agriculture Pesticides Act and the Fertilisers Control Act to prevent the sale of spurious agricultural drugs and fertilisers.

She reviewed the restructuring of Punjab Seed Corporation and Punjab Agricultural Research Board. A proposal to introduce a law to prevent the use of agricultural land for residential purposes was also considered in the meeting.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2024