Funds disbursement to farmers from 22nd, says minister

LAHORE:Minister for Agriculture Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has said disbursement of funds to farmers through Bank of Punjab will commence from May 22.

The minister said this while chairing a meeting on Chief Minister’s Wheat Support Programme and Kisan Card Phase II here on Monday. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Punjab Agriculture Department and Margalla Heavy Industries Limited, Taxila. Under this agreement, Heavy Industries Taxila will carry out repair and maintenance of 20 bulldozers from the field wing of the Agriculture Department.

The minister was informed that 487,000 farmers have already repaid their loans under the first phase of the Kisan Card scheme. The minister emphasised that to benefit from all agricultural initiatives of the government, possession of a Kisan Card must be made mandatory. He noted that the scope of Kisan Card Phase II has been expanded, increasing the loan limit to Rs300,000, eliminating transaction charges, and introducing a facility for diesel purchase.

In addition to Kisan Card holders, other farmers are also applying for the Wheat Support Programme via the dedicated portal, with 250,000 applications already received. The deadline to apply for this programme is May 31. Through the same portal, an additional 100,000 farmers can register for new Kisan Cards. A total of Rs10 billion will be distributed among 500,000 farmers under the Wheat Support Programme, the minister said.

The Bank of Punjab has approved over 542,000 farmer applications for Kisan Card Phase II, and the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA) has completed verification for nearly 500,000 of them, he said.

Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo stressed the need to intensify the awareness campaign across social media, electronic media, and print media to ensure that more farmers can benefit from the government’s loans and incentives.

The meeting was attended by President Bank of Punjab, Zafar Masud, Special Secretary Agriculture Agha Nabeel Akhtar, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Planning) Waqas Rasheed, Director General Agricultural Information Naveed Asmat Kahloon, representatives from PITB, and other officials.

The MoU ceremony was attended by Brig (R) Jawad from Heavy Industries Taxila, Special Secretary Agriculture Agha Nabeel Akhtar, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Planning) Captain Waqas Rasheed, and Additional Director General (Engineering) Multan, Afzal Tahir. The MoU was formally signed by Director General Field (Agriculture), Sajid Naseer, and Chief Executive Officer of Heavy Industries Taxila, Brig Nadeem Ahmed.