LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz officially launched Punjab’s first-ever High-Tech Farm Mechanisation Financing Programme Portal on Wednesday through a digital ceremony.
Speaking at the event, she said the High-Tech Farm Mechanisation Finance Programme would mark the beginning of an agricultural revolution in Punjab, emphasising the government’s firm commitment to modernising the province’s agriculture sector.
The secretary agriculture provided a detailed briefing on the programme, explaining that interest-free loans of up to Rs3 crore would be offered for 12 types of high-tech agricultural machinery. A six-month grace period has been set for loan repayment, with instalments payable on a quarterly basis over five years. Farmers, service providers, and agri-businesses can apply for these loans through the programme’s dedicated portal.
Officials informed the chief minister that the programme includes advanced agricultural machinery from international manufacturers—27 companies from China, 10 from Turkiye, five from Italy, and others from Japan, the United States, Brazil, Spain, and Belarus. They further detailed that key machinery under the High-Tech Farm Mechanisation Financing Programme includes wheat combine harvesters, multi-crop planters, rice planters, nursery machines, rice harvesters, wheat straw balers, maize cob harvesters, silage harvesters, maize cob dryers, orchard pruners, and orchard air blast sprayers. Additionally, central pivots, irrigation systems, and high-powered tractors are also part of the high-tech agricultural machinery package.
In a separate development, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz commended the security forces for eliminating seven Indian-sponsored khawarij in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan. She paid tribute to the bravery of the martyred Major Sibtain Haider and expressed her heartfelt condolences to his family.