Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has given a package amounting to Rs110 billion for wheat farmers for the first time in the history of the province.
According to an official statement, no significant assistance is being provided to the wheat farmers in any other province.
Presiding over a meeting, the chief minister approved a relief package worth Rs25 billion under the Wheat Farmer Support Programme.
She issued directives to grant Rs5,000 per acre to the wheat farmers, amounting to Rs25,000 for five acres of cultivated land.
The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to carry out an amendment required to make the flour mills comply with a condition to purchase at least 25 per cent wheat. She approved an electronic warehouse receipt policy and a notification has been issued in this regard.
She directed the provincial agriculture minister to monitor the wheat procurement campaign. The price control department will assist in the campaign. The chief minister directed the Bank of Punjab to establish a credit line of Rs100 billion.
She was informed in a briefing that wheat farmers had purchased agricultural inputs approximately worth Rs55 billion through the Kisan Card. The wheat farmers were given a subsidy of Rs10 billion on 9,500 tractors, of which 1,000 were given free of charge to growers at a cost of Rs2.5 billion.
The wheat farmers were given a subsidy worth Rs8 billion for tube well solarisation.
The farmers are being given a subsidy of Rs8 billion on 5,000 super seeders.
The farmer who grows maximum wheat across the province will get a 85-horsepower tractor worth Rs4.5 million free of charge. The farmer who comes second in the wheat growing competition will get a tractor worth Rs4 million and the third Rs3.5 million.
It was informed in the briefing that the farmer who grows the maximum amount of wheat in each district will get Rs1 million, the second Rs800,000 and the third Rs500,000.
On the whole, the farmers will get Rs104 million in prizes in the wheat growing campaign.
An agriculture internship programme worth Rs1.25 billion has been launched for guiding wheat farmers in the province. Under the scheme, 1,000 interns will remain in the field for facilitating and supporting wheat farmers across the province.
Farmers cultivating cotton will get Rs25,000 per block, in all worth Rs375 million.
The chief minister urged all stakeholders and citizens to take the holistic responsibility for the protection of the environment and remain an active part of campaigns for a permanent solution.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court is likely to hear on Tuesday a plea seeking directives to the provincial government for fixing wheat price at Rs4,000 per-40kg.
The petitioner Ghulam Abbas had cited as respondents the provincial government, food secretary and director general of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation.
He submitted that the government is going to fix the price at Rs2,200 40kg of wheat, while the expenditures per acre are Rs3,600.
The petitioner contended that the government is not purchasing wheat from the farmers, adding that setting a low rate of the wheat is unethical, unlawful and tantamount to multiplying the miseries of the farmers.
He requested the court to direct the provincial government to fix the price at Rs4,000 per 40kg, announce subsidy for the farmers and formulate a policy to purchase wheat from the farmers.
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