What Punjab’s chief minister announced
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday rolled out ten measures aimed at growers, with Apna Kisan Bank at the centre alongside cheaper large loans, an expanded Kisan Card ceiling and olive-sector help. Speaking before small, mid-sized and large landholders, she said provincial policy would follow the federation’s wheat support of Rs4,500 per maund.
She also lifted the Kisan Card acre ceiling by Rs3,500, taking it from Rs30,000 to Rs33,500. Under the lending ladder she described, borrowing of as much as Rs100 million would carry no markup; facilities of as much as Rs300 million would attract two per cent, and those of as much as Rs500 million five per cent.
Credit, cards and food security claims
The chief minister said Rs17 billion in subsidised farm credit is being extended. She put Kisan Card use at above one million small growers, arguing digitised payouts favour transparent selection and cut out intermediaries. Recovery, she said, stays near full repayment, while work continues to bring tenants and leaseholders into the net.
She noted that Punjab covers roughly seventy per cent of national food needs. The province, she added, held firm against International Monetary Fund (IMF — the global lender’s programme conditions) demands on farm income tax and kept fertiliser volumes and rates steady.
Machines, parks, water and olives
On machinery, she cited 25,000 subsidised tractors already delivered and another 50,000 under the Green Tractor Scheme, plus a Rs70 billion push for advanced farm equipment. Domestic firms turn out about 30,000 tractors a year, and the province plans its first harvester assembly line and tractor plants.
Agro-processing parks are planned for Sargodha, Bhakkar, Khanewal and Okara to grade, process and store mangoes, kinnow, oranges, potatoes and other produce, trimming post-harvest waste and aiding exports. Higher wheat, she said, could also feed value-added goods such as pasta. Under Apna Khet, Apna Rozgar, wheat growers are getting incentives; a procurement plan and digital portal are due soon. Fifteen hundred agriculture interns, each earning Rs70,000 monthly, are in the field, with mobile labs for soil fertility and water tests on the way.
Irrigation steps include high-capacity systems, four hundred mini dams in Potohar, lined watercourses, better canal clearing and a drive against theft. She also unveiled olive subsidies and congratulated Pakistan on full membership of the International Olive Council after observer status. In livestock, four hundred thousand animals were fattened last year, with a target of six hundred thousand this year. She urged growers not to burn leftover stalks, citing smog, and said farmer ideas would be phased in.
Provincial Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain Kirmani thanked her for marking her birthday with growers. Hassan Raza, Amir Hayat Bandesha, Bilal Khan and Sajjad Ali backed the wheat rate, the card and the anti-theft water drive; Bilal Khan said Punjab olives could reach export markets in two to three years.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Punjab ki CM ne kisanon ke liye das naye iqdamat bataye hain, jin mein Apna Kisan Bank aur sasta qarz shamil hai. Kisan Card ki had ab Rs33,500 per acre hai, aur gehun ka rate Rs4,500 maund rakha gaya hai. Bade qarz par zero se le kar panch percent tak interest diya jayega. Is se chhote aur bare dono kisanon ko seedha faida milne ka matlab hai.
