Maryam okays Nawaz Sharif Kissan Card

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz is all out for the welfare and prosperity of farmers in the province.

She approved the launch of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Kissan Card to provide subsidized farm inputs to farmers in Punjab while chairing a meeting on agricultural reforms here on Friday. She said: “Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Kissan Card project in Punjab is the biggest in the history of Pakistan. Under the project, agricultural loans worth Rs 150 billion will be provided to 5 lakh small farmers on easy terms. Farmers will be given an agricultural loan of Rs 30,000 per acre for the purchase of best quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Various types of other subsidies will also be provided to farmers through the card. Model Agriculture Centres (MAC) will be established across Punjab in collaboration with the private sector. These centres will have modern agricultural machinery, training, pesticide seeds and demonstration plots. In the first phase, one model agriculture centre will be set up in each district. Farmers will get rid of fake fertilizers and medicines.”

She directed the Agriculture Department to compile complete data of production and demand of each crop. She approved setting up the state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence for research and development on cotton, wheat and rice crops. She agreed to control administrative affairs of the Centre of Excellence through a board and link this centre with regional universities. She directed building a research and development centre at a cost of Rs 2 billion in the Agriculture University Faisalabad with the cooperation of China. This Pak-China R&D Centre will have a genome centre and a germ plasm resource, speed breeding and research facility on climate change. The chief minister directed amending the Agriculture Pesticides Act and the Fertilizers Control Act to prevent the sale of spurious agricultural drugs and fertilizers.

She reviewed the restructuring of the Punjab Seed Corporation and the Punjab Agricultural Research Board. A proposal to introduce a law to prevent the use of agricultural land for residential purposes was considered in the meeting. She agreed to equip the Agricultural Extension Wing with modern technology and recruit 500 agriculture graduates.

Earlier, she was briefed that 24,800 latest agricultural implements would be provided to farmers at a cost of Rs 7 billion in two years.

Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Information Minister Azma Zahid Bukhari, Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain, former senators Pervez Rashid, Saud Majeed, chief secretary, secretaries Agriculture, Finance, president Bank of Punjab and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Maryam took notice of the alleged rape of a 9-year-old retarded girl in Layyah. She directed the authorities concerned to identify the accused involved after thorough investigations and sought a report in this regard from the IG Police. She directed that all those involved in the heinous crime be punished severely.