PM Kisan Package To Assist Farmers’ With Financial Constraints Following Floods

News Desk

Peshawar: After receiving crucial support under the Prime Minister’s Kisan (farmers) package, Kamal Khan (25), a poor farmer of the village Mohib Banda Nowshera, is able to complete the cultivation of wheat sowing in his three acres of field, leaving behind the negative effects of the devastating floods this year.

“I experienced significant financial loss after my standing crops were wiped out by the River Kabul’s record-breaking, highest-velocity floods in August and September. My ability to secure funding for the purchase of seeds, fertiliser, and other expenses related to cultivation in the post-flood circumstances was severely hampered,” Kamal stated.

According to Kamal Khan, who began farming in his home village to provide for his family after the untimely death of his father Hamayun, “the Kisan package has proven to be a blessing for hundreds of thousands of farmers and wheat growers in KP who were unable to cultivate wheat due to financial restrictions.”

Kisan Package:This year on October 31, Prime MinisterShehbaz Sharif unveiled the Kisan Package, a Rs. 1800 billion programme that offered subsidised loans with favourable terms to farmers and wheat growers devastated by floods.

PMLN KP Spokesman and Member Provincial AssemblyIkhtairWali Khan told that agricultural loans totaling Rs 664 billion have been distributed to farmers as of November 2022. This is a 36 percent increase over the same period of the prior financial year under the relief package.

This year, the package saw a record rise of Rs400 billion compared to the last year, and a subsidy of more than Rs10 billion is given to farmers in flood-affected areas to waive mark-up fees on loans they took out.

In addition, loans of Rs 50 billion are included in the package for young people from rural areas of the nation, including the combined tribal districts of KP, who intended to make investments in the agricultural sector.

As well as supporting an agro-based economy to make the country self-sufficient in food, up to Rs6.4 billion are being given as subsidies on the markup of loans to assist farmers.

The Labour Force Survey of 2020-21 conducted by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has revealed that 37.4 percent of the national labour force is engaged in agriculture including 28.4 percent male and 67.9 percent female.

According to Pak Economic Survey 2020-21, the agriculture sector contributes 19.2 percent to the GDP which is comparatively low than the country’s agriculture potential. This sector is crucial to the nation’s economic development, food security, creation of jobs, and reduction of poverty, especially at the rural level.

University of SwabiDepartment of EconomicsAssistant Professor Muhammad Naeeminformed that79.6 million hectares of the country’s total land area are cultivated, leaving the other 22.1 million hectares as cultural waste, densely inhabited woods, and rangelands.

“Since the post-18th amendment in 2011, total spending on agriculture development has begun to decline since the provinces did not play their proper part in implementing policies intended to boost crop production,” he added.

MPA IkhtiarWalistated that the government successfully negotiated a 2500 rupee per bag subsidy with fertiliser companies and set the new price of DAP at Rs. 11,250 per bag.

In order to assist landless peasants in flood-affected areas, he apprised that five billion rupees had been set aside to provide a subsidy on loan markups.

Moreover, around 1.2 million bags of certified seed have been given to farmers in flood-affected areas.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are being encouraged to invest in the agriculture sector. SMEs interested in investing in the agriculture sector are able to get loans at subsidised rates for which Rs 6.4 billion are fixed in addition to Rs 10 billion for modernization of the scheme.

Wali Khan said that there are approximately 300,000 agricultural tube wells functioning in Pakistan. The federal government has planned to solarize every single one of them, for which a significant subsidy in electricity-related matters would be provided at a flat rate of 13 rupees per unit for agricultural tube wells to assist farmers. Additional input from APP