LAHORE: Farmers’ registration for Kisan Card will begin from June 1 as currently fertilisers and pesticide dealers are being registered for the scheme.

This was stated by Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo while chairing a meeting on the Kisan Card here on Friday.

He said that transparency would be ensured in the Rs300 billion Kisan Card scheme under which an interest-free easy loan of Rs150,000 would be offered to each qualifying farmer.

At least 0.5 million farmers holding one to 12.5 acres of land would be eligible for the scheme, and they would get fertilizers and seeds through their cards at fixed prices.

An official said that for registration the farmers should send their computerised national identity card by sending an SMS on 8070. The qualifying farmer should have land record with the Punjab Land Revenue Authority, while the SIM of the phone number must be registered in the name of the farmer with the same CNIC number provided in the SMS.

Under this scheme, the farmer will be required to repay the loan within six months.

Special Secretary Shahenshah Faisal Azim, Additional Secretary Planning Waqas Rasheed, Additional Secretary Agriculture Task Force Shabbir Ahmad Khan and Agricultural Information Director Naveed Asmat Kahloon, besides representatives of the Bank of Punjab attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2024