Heart wants me to talk about agriculture and farmers today. I have been hearing and reading since my childhood that Pakistan is an agricultural country, we have the largest and modern canal system in the world, 70% of our economy consists of agriculture. I remember that with us, zamindar used to mean prosperity and terror. Urban Babu used to explain that whoever comes from the village, has fields, cattle, is influential and prosperous.
There was some truth in this, but then the times started to change, the bureaucrats created policies that made the agricultural country miserable and the landlords poor. The situation today is that the hardy young sons of farmers and cultivators leave their dry fields and work in cities.
Every government has raised slogans to make farmers and villages prosperous, but agriculture is declining day by day. What a tragedy that an agricultural country is forced to import even vegetables from abroad. All these things have been submitted to tell you that now Mrs. Maryam Nawaz Sharif is also on a mission to develop agriculture. May Allah make her successful because I think that if the farmer is prosperous then Pakistan will be prosperous. Whatever she is doing. Apparently, it is for Punjab, but the thing to remember is that if the fields in Punjab are shaking, then the whole of Pakistan will be shaking.
Agricultural experts call Punjab the food basket of Pakistan. Undoubtedly, Punjab alone produces 75% of the grains consumed by the people of Pakistan. Safdar Salim Syal, a well-known agriculturist of Jhang, used to tell me that “Chaudhry Sahib. ! Punjab is the home of milk, cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep of this region are the highest milch animals in the world. If we focus only on agriculture, Pakistan can become the largest exporter of milk to the whole world. This means that if Pakistan concentrates on agricultural economy, I am sure that prosperity will become our destiny in ten to fifteen years.
It has been only 10 months since Mrs. Maryam Nawaz took over as Chief Minister, she has launched the “Transforming Punjab Agriculture Program” worth more than four billion rupees. In the budget of the financial year 2024-25, 64 billion rupees have been allocated for achieving production targets, which is 250% more than the previous year. The amount allocated for the Transforming Punjab Agriculture Program is separate.
Ms. Maryam Nawaz has inaugurated the issuance of Kisan Card during her visit to Hafizabad in recent days. Under the Kisan Card, interest-free loans of one and a half rupees are being provided to farmers of one acre to 12 and a half acres of owned land. In the current Rabi season, loans worth 53 billion rupees have been approved. Farmers in Punjab have purchased more than 32 billion rupees from this amount, out of which 91% of the amount has been spent on wheat crop seed and fertilizer. 30 thousand rupees cash can also be withdrawn from Kisan Card.
It has been heard that Ms. Maryam Nawaz Sharif has issued special orders to the Punjab bureaucracy, after which seven and a half lakh farmers have been issued immediate farmer cards. Dealing with the bureaucracy is the greatest achievement of a chief minister or prime minister.
This is the biggest project ever for Bank of Punjab and Department of Agriculture and so far more than 13 lakh farmers have applied online, after scrutiny the bank has approved 4 lakh 50 thousand farmers for Kisan Card. This can gauge the acceptance of this flagship program. 3 thousand dealers have been registered across Punjab for using Kisan Card and purchases are being made through POS machines.
Ms. Maryam Nawaz says that with the launch of the Kisan Card Scheme, we have reached the farmers directly and freed them from the clutches of middlemen and adhartis. May Allah help the farmers get rid of the excesses of middlemen and swindlers and start getting the full fruits of their hard work. If the system of agricultural markets is fixed in Pakistan, the financial exploitation of farmers will end.
The prices of beech, fertilizer and agricultural medicines are also stagnant. In non-computerized markets, the process of registration of farmers to obtain Chief Minister Punjab Kisan Card is going on manually, in this regard Patwaris, Numdars, Thanidars and other influential people. People should also show fear of God and should not abuse any poor person. It is encouraging news that purchases through Kisan Card are being regularly monitored and strict action has been announced in case of complaints. “Young Agricultural Graduates Internship Program” is also a good project.
This is also the vision of Ms. Maryam Nawaz, agricultural graduates will be trained under this program, farmers will also be given technical training and awareness of modern agricultural production technology. 1 billion rupees have been allocated for this program. This year, 1,000 agricultural graduates have been recruited under this program, of which 40 percent are women. Each agricultural graduate is being paid 60 thousand rupees per month. A huge sum of 30 billion rupees has been allocated for the “Chief Minister Punjab Green Tractor Program”. Under this program, a subsidy of 10 lakh rupees per tractor has been provided to the farmers. Co-tractors have been delivered to selected farmers.
Under the smog control program, superseeders are being provided to paddy farmers at 60% subsidy with a sum of 5 billion rupees to destroy crop residues in a modern scientific manner. 1,000 superseeders have been provided to the farmers while Another 2,000 Super Seeders will be delivered by the end of September 2025.
Last year, paddy residue on 110,000 acres was made useful by using superseeders, which helped in controlling smog. Apart from this, 4 model agricultural malls in Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Sahiwal were built at a cost of Rs. 1 billion 17 crores. under construction From here, quality seeds, fertilizers and agricultural drugs will be provided to farmers at fixed rates, modern agricultural machinery will also be available on rent. These materials will be completed by 30 June 2025. 9 billion rupees have been earmarked for the conversion of 8,000 tube wells to solar energy.
A huge sum of 1 billion rupees has been allocated to promote the production of oilseeds. For wheat farmers, Chief Minister Punjab has announced to provide 1,000 tractors to farmers cultivating wheat on an area of more than 25 acres and 1,000 laser land levelers to farmers cultivating wheat on an area of 12.5 to 25 acres free of charge through lottery.
Indeed, Ms. Maryam Nawaz Sharif as the Chief Minister has started the process of reforms in the agricultural sector in a short period of ten months.
I will say once again that agriculture can make Pakistan prosperous. Punjab Chief Minister Ms. Maryam Nawaz has chosen the right direction, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti should also focus on agriculture, because self-sufficiency in food is the pride of Pakistan. is guaranteed.
