Past rulers paid no attention to farmers’ welfare: minister

LAHORE : Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi has said previous governments did not pay any attention to the agriculture sector and farmers’ had to face the worst conditions while Prime Minister Imran Khan has given priority to the agriculture sector.

The minister said this while addressing a ceremony for distributing Kisan Cards among farmers here on Saturday. The minister said for the first time in the history of Punjab, the Punjab government has initiated a revolutionary programme of issuing Kisan Cards through which all the subsidy is being transformed directly in the accounts of farmers in the form of cash transfer. He added that Kisan Cards have been issued to farmers with the aim of enhancing digital literacy in rural areas of Punjab and providing direct financial assistance to farmers in the form of cash transfers. Farmers will be able to purchase fertilisers, seeds and pesticides in a timely manner in availing subsidy directly from ATMs through Kisan Cards and through this intervention subsidy worth of five billion rupees annually will be provided to more than one million registered farmers across the province in a transparent manner.

The minister said in district Mandi Bahauddin, 13,500 farmers applied for Kisan Cards while these were being issued to more than 4 thousand farmers. He said 5 lakh acre land is available for cultivation in Mandi Bahauddin. Rice after wheat is the second cultivated crop in this district. It is essential for the farmers that they act on the directions of the agriculture department while using spray on their crops, he added. He appealed to the farmers to complete their registration for Kisan Cards at the earliest. The Punjab government is taking concrete steps for Agriculture development and prosperity of the farmers. Under the farmers friendly policies of the govt, record per acre yield has been achieved this year. So the Agriculture Development Budget has been increased more than 300 percent. The Punjab government has allocated 31.47 billion rupees for completing the agriculture development projects in the budget for 2021-22. Kisan Cards have been issued under the agriculture transformation programme for which Rs4 billion has been allocated under the head of agriculture subsidy in the present financial year, the minister said.