Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that self-sufficiency can be achieved in the agriculture sector at national level by promoting an agricultural economy on concrete and sustainable foundations.
Presiding over a high-level meeting reviewing the progress of the provision of tractors under Green Tractor Scheme, the chief minister said that the Punjab government had initiated many development programmes aimed at welfare and uplift of the farming community.
The chief minister said that as a result of these initiatives, per acre productivity had increased. He said tractors were provided to the farmer community through a transparent balloting process.
He further said that in the current year, as many as 10,048 tractors were expected to be distributed among farmers in Punjab, and that the Punjab government is extending a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh on every tractor.
The chief minister stressed that the distribution of these tractors had been done purely on the basis of merit, and would continue to be so in the future.
He said quota for south Punjab districts had been fixed to be more than the proportion of their population, in order to provide maximum agriculture facilities to the farmers. He directed the concerned authorities to expedite the process of provision of tractors to farmers, which should be completed by December 31.
Shahbaz also directed to constitute a high-level committee in this regard, which would oversee the process of transparent distribution of tractors.
Over 10,000 tractors to be distributed: CM
