'Transforming Punjab Agriculture' Plan To Help Develop Farm Sector On Modern Lines: Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani

Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif's, 'Transforming Punjab Agriculture' plan worth over Rs. 400 billion will be an important milestone for the farm sector development and farmers' prosperity

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Apr, 2024) Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif's, 'Transforming Punjab Agriculture' plan worth over Rs. 400 billion will be an important milestone for the farm sector development and farmers' prosperity.

He said this while presiding over a high-level meeting at Agriculture House on Friday. The meeting reviewed the time-line of the plan.

Kirmani said that all the arrangements for providing interest-free loans of Rs. 300 billion to the farmers were in the final stages of completion. The loan scheme was ongoing with the cooperation of Agriculture department and Bank of Punjab. He further said that under this flagship program, 500,000 farmers would be provided interest-free loans.

To ensure the transparency of this scheme, Punjab Kissan card was being issued soon. Agriculture Minister said that 7,000 tube wells would be transferred to solar system across the province.

Besides, 5,000 super seeders and 2,000 rice shredders would be provided to the farmers at 60% subsidy.

In Punjab, 7,300 water courses would be improved at a cost of Rs 80 billion. Rs 2 billion would be utilized on the reorganization of the agriculture extension.

As many as 500 agricultural graduates would be recruited on contract to provide better extension services to the farmers.

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