‘Rs300b set aside for agricultural development’

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has provided Rs35 billion interest-free loans to the farmers during last two years and another sum of Rs300 billion was being spent on agricultural development through Prime Minister Agriculture Emergency Programme.

The chief minister expressed these views while addressing a ceremony held to distribute certificates of allotment of agriculture machinery and e-credit scheme cheques among the farmers on Tuesday.

Agriculture Adviser Abdul Hai Dasti, Parliamentary Secretary (Agriculture) Muhammad Tahir Randhawa, ACS (Agriculture) and others were also present in the ceremony.

The chief minister said the PTI government was a genuine farmer-friendly government which has given a full reward to sugarcane farmers for their hard work for the first time.

“The payment of 99% dues to sugarcane farmers has been made in the last two years and support prices of wheat and sugarcane are also being sufficiently increased,” Buzdar said.

He highlighted that the e-credit scheme limit has been increased to Rs5,000 for rabi crops and Rs12,000 for Kharif crop to facilitate the farmers.

“Per acre yield is being increased and irrigation facilities are improved and the latest agriculture machinery is imperative for this purpose. The Punjab government has provided the latest machinery worth of Rs460 million at subsidised rates to farmers and a Rs2.5-billion increase has been recorded in farmers’ income due to the cultivation of 78,000 acres barren land in two years.”

He also expressed satisfaction that 80 new varieties of crops have been approved by the agriculture department and Rs6 billion has been earmarked for agricultural research.

The chief minister maintained that additional wheat, gram and canola crops have been produced due to farmer-friendly steps of the provincial government.

Meanwhile, commenting on the arrest of the main culprit of the motorway rape case he said it was a high-profile case. “I congratulate the IGP and his team as the main accused is under police custody now. The Punjab Police traced all the high-profile cases during the two years and arrested the criminals as well. The accused will face legal action and the case will be brought to its logical end,” he added.

The chief minister also announced a reward of Rs5 million for the investigation team and also distributed allotment certificates and cheques among the farmers.

Speaking on the occasion, Agriculture Minister Hussain Jehanian Gardezi said that the promotion of agriculture will boost economic development and the use of the latest machinery will result in increasing per acre yield. Secretary Agriculture addressed the function as well.

He also inspected the agriculture machinery exhibition.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.