By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif unveiled a loan package worth Rs1.8 trillion for farmers this year, saying it would help support the flood-hit agriculture sector of the country.
“The loan package is Rs400 billion more than the one offered in 2021,” Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad. “We will ensure that this entire amount is provided to farmers.”
PM Sharif said the package would help “farmers stand on their own feet” following the cataclysmic floods in the country.
Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in the country’s northern mountains this summer triggered flash floods and rain-induced landslides that have killed over 1,600 people, sweeping away infrastructure, livestock, and crops. Huge areas have been inundated, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced away from their homes.
The government would provide loans at concessional rates to small farmers in flood-affected areas as well as to young villagers who are willing to become professional farmers.
The package includes a reduction in fertilizer prices, conversion of 300,000 tube wells to solar energy, provision of loans to small and medium enterprises in the agriculture sector, and a duty concession to
new tractor manufacturers who will invest in the country.
PM Sharif said Pakistan’s economic development depended on its agricultural growth and thus it was essential to resolve the issues of farmers through higher loans and subsidies.
He said the government had decided to waive off loans taken by small farmers from the flood-affected areas and was allocating more than Rs10 billion ($45 million) for this purpose.
The subsidies, which were part of the Kissan Package, include loans worth Rs50 billion for the youth of rural areas to invest in the agriculture sector. The government would also provide a Rs6.4 billion
subsidy on the markup of these loans.
The PM said the new price for the Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) has also been fixed at Rs11,250 per bag after successful negotiations with the fertilizer producers. “The government had negotiated a subsidy of Rs2,500 per bag with fertilizer producers.”
The government has also allowed the import of used tractors in view of the increased prices of new ones. The subsidy on the duty of a five-year-old tractor would be 50 percent, while the subsidy on the
duty fee of a three-year-old tractor would be 36 percent.
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