LAHORE: Punjab will provide Rs100 billion interest-free loans to farmers for the ongoing Kharif season under the phase-II of the Kisan Card, touted as South Asia’s largest digital project.

A senior official of the Agriculture department said the ownership limit of agricultural land had been increased from 12.5 to 25 acres in the phase-II and a sum of Rs100bn would be distributed as loans among at least one million farmers for the Kharif season.

He said the loan limit had been enhanced up to Rs300,000. Of it, 30pc could be withdrawn in cash, 20pc for purchase of diesel, and 50pc was allocated for buying seeds, fertilisers and pesticides from authorised dealerships.

He said that to facilitate the process, 3,750 registered dealers across the province would provide quality seeds, fertilisers, pesticides on notified prices, while diesel could be purchased from 732 PSO-registered fuel stations. He said the chief minister had also eliminated all service charges and processing fees for the Kisan Card.

He said the department had received 300,000 additional applications for phase-II that had been forwarded to the Bank of Punjab for final scrutiny and approval.

The system, he claimed, freed the farmers from exploitation by middleman and commission agents for the purchase of farm inputs. He said that since the launch of the project a year ago, at least 1.5 million farmers registered themselves with the scheme from the comfort of their homes via mobile phones.

After verification by Nadra and Punjab Land Records Authority, more than 600,000 Kisan Cards were issued in the first phase and the beneficiaries utilised Rs36bn interest-free loans during the Rabi season 2024-25, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2025