11% of Punjab farmers receive Kissan Card

Over 11 per cent farmers have received Kissan Card in Punjab to avail benefits of direct subsidies to be given jointly by the federal and provincial governments. Officials say the process of issuance of Kissan Card is moving ahead smoothly in the province. Multan is at top in terms of issuance of the card, with over 48 per cent peasants in the district having received the cards. Chiniot district is at second position with issuance of the cards to 46 % farmers. According to official sources, districts Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Hafizabad, Lodhran and Mianwali are also leading the process with issuance of cards to over 25 % peasants. The sources remarked that there were over 5.2 million farmers in the province. However, the number of registered farmers is 3.4 million. The process of farmers’ registration as well as issuance of the Kissan Card is in progress. About benefits of Kissan Card, Agriculture Extension Director Shehzad Sabir stated that the card holders would enjoy all sorts of subsidies given on agriculture inputs and machinery. Replying to a query about issuance of the card, he remarked that at the provincial level 560,499 cards had been given to farmers. During November, Shehzad maintained that the target of issuing 24,020 Kissan Cards was set for Multan division. The agriculture director said that Kissan Cards were issued to registered farmers. There is a particular criteria for registration of farmers which involves the Land Record Centre, Agriculture Department and NADRA. The registered farmers are visiting banking franchise shops for issuance of the cards. As most of the farmers were already registered with the agriculture department, they could visit the outlets for issuance of the cards, he said. He urged peasants to get the Kissan Cards as early as possible to avail benefits of direct subsidy.   Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2021.

from Punjab News Updates and Insights - The Express Tribune https://ift.tt/3E1Api8