Registration starts for Punjab Kissan Card
Business
The initiative designed by Maryam Nawaz will benefit 0.5m farmers
- Anyone holding up to 12.5 acres of land can apply
- It will make a person eligible for a Rs150,000 interest-free loan for each crop
- Amount to be repaid in six months through easy instalments
LAHORE (Web Desk/Dunya News) – Registration has started for “Kissan Card” – an initiative launched by the PML-N government in Punjab which aims at extending interest-free loans to 0.5 million small farmers who remain most vulnerable to market forces and nature, especially amid the climate change effects.
They can now start the process by simply sending a sending a message to 8070 while writing PKC (Space) and CNIC (computerised national identity card) number.
These cards will enable them to buy a variety of inputs, including seeds and fertilizers, as the federal and provincial governments have already been working on lowering the urea prices while ensuring availability of required stocks through importing different fertilizers.
With the farmers hit hard by the current economic crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had promised in her maiden speech after winning the vote of confidence to launch the project, besides other plans to provide relief to the masses hit hard by inflation and rising cost of doing business.
She has repeatedly listed the prosperity and increase of agriculture output as her government’s top priorities amid the food security challenge exacerbated by the population bomb and global warming.
The registration process means that the government could start disbursing the loans through the Bank of Punjab during the current Kharif season – the summer crops sown in May and June which are harvested in autumn.
The provincial government has announced to release a total of Rs300 billion under the Kissan Card venture that allows each eligible farmer to get up to Rs150,000 per crop [or per season] , which have to returned in six month through easy instalments.
Meanwhile, the farmers repaying the loans will again be eligible to apply for loan next season.
As far as the eligibility criteria is concerned, a farmer owning up to 12.5 acres of land can benefit from the scheme while ensuring his or her mobile phone SIM is registered under his or name, as the NADRA record would be checked for the computerised national identity card (CNIC).
On the other hand, the aspirant at the same time should also be not a defaulter of any other financial institution.
