Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced the province’s first Apna Kisan Bank, Rs17 billion in subsidised agricultural loans, and a higher Kisan Card limit for fertiliser purchases, presenting the package as support for farmers and a push to modernise farming.
She spoke in Lahore to representatives of small, medium and large farmers from across Punjab, dedicating the gathering to the farming community on her birthday. She framed the measures as part of about 10 major initiatives covering credit, mechanisation, processing, water and crop support.
Credit, Kisan Card and wheat price
The chief minister said the Rs17 billion subsidised financing drive would serve farmers cultivating around five million acres. She also announced an increase of Rs3,500 per acre in the Kisan Card loan limit for diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser, lifting it from Rs30,000 to Rs33,500 per acre, citing higher fertiliser costs.
She said more than one million small farmers already use the Kisan Card to buy fertiliser, seeds and pesticides without relying on middlemen, and that digital disbursement had improved transparency. Loan recovery, she said, had stayed close to 100 per cent, and the government was moving to bring tenant farmers and leaseholders into the scheme.
She described a tiered, low-markup loan structure for larger farm financing. Accounts of her remarks differed on the ceilings: some put interest-free loans at up to Rs10 million, with bands of up to Rs30 million at two per cent and Rs50 million at five per cent; others put interest-free loans at up to Rs100 million, with higher bands of Rs300 million at two per cent and Rs500 million at five per cent. She said the provincial government would work with the federation to implement the wheat support price of Rs4,500 per maund (40 kilogrammes).
Maryam Nawaz said the government had resisted pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—the global lender that sets conditions for Pakistan’s economic programme—over agricultural income tax, arguing that farmers’ interests should be protected. She also said fertiliser supplies and prices had been kept under control during her tenure.
Mechanisation, agro-parks and water
On farm machinery, she said 25,000 tractors had already been given to farmers on subsidy, while 50,000 more were being offered under the Green Tractor Scheme. The government was allocating Rs70 billion for high-tech mechanisation, including demand for equipment such as happy seeders, and encouraging local tractor production and related factories.
She announced agro-parks in Sargodha, Bhakkar, Khanewal and Okara for grading, processing and storage of mangoes, kinnows, oranges, potatoes and other crops, aiming to cut losses and support exports. A Potohar package would expand olive cultivation and oil extraction; she said 400 mini dams had been completed there, with a target of 1,000.
She pledged action against water theft so irrigation reaches farmers at the tail ends of canals, plus silt removal, watercourse lining and wider high-efficiency irrigation. Mobile laboratories, she said, were testing soil and water so growers could use inputs more carefully. She also asked farmers not to burn crop residue, linking that practice to smog.
Farmers’ response and what comes next
Markazi Kisan League Chairman Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali Olakh welcomed the agricultural development and water-conservation announcements, saying effective implementation could strengthen food security. He urged government wheat procurement at Rs4,500 per maund, direct buying without middlemen or private companies in the purchase chain, and processing units in regional clusters.
Olakh said temporary schemes were not enough and called for long-term policy, modern warehouses and follow-through so announcements become results. A wheat procurement plan and an online portal for digital processing were described as forthcoming under related cultivation support.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Punjab ki CM ne farmers ke liye Apna Kisan Bank aur Rs17 arab ki sasti qarz scheme ka elaan kiya hai. Kisan Card se DAP kharidne ki had Rs30,000 se Rs33,500 per acre ho gai hai. Wheat ka support price Rs4,500 per maund (40 kg) lagane ka wada bhi kiya gaya hai. Asal faida tab mile ga jab qarz, kharid aur pani ke yeh elaan ground par asani se milen.
