'Same as punjab': Farmers demand Rs50b interest-free loan

HYDERABAD: The farmers in Sindh have asked the provincial government to replicate the interest-free agricultural loan scheme of the Punjab government and earmark Rs50 billion for a three-year period. The farmers' representatives made this demand during a meeting of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Sunday, which was chaired by Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar. The participants of the meeting pointed out that the cost of crop production in the two provinces is the same and without adequate government subsidy and agricultural credit the farmers and agricultural output will be affected. They added that the growers in Sindh ought to be given the same interest-free loan scheme and other support which their counterparts are enjoying in Punjab. The meeting also demanded that the Sindh government should increase the subsidy on tractors to Rs800,000, which is half the price of a Rs1.6 million tractor. They pointed out that the price of a tractor has increased from Rs600,000 to Rs1.6 million in recent years.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.