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Lahore – Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting to review the annual development projects and other departmental affairs of Agriculture and Livestock departments.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM ordered the officials concerned not to take fee of ‘Fard Malkiyat’ [possession deed] for issuance of Kissan Card to the cultivators.
He said 472,000 Kissan Cards had been issued to the farmers and that number would reach one million by the end of the current fiscal year.
He said that as many as 1,590 input dealers of Kissan Card were working across the province, adding: “Projects are being carried out to achieve the maximum production of wheat, sugarcane and rice crops.”
The CM stated that the scope of drip irrigation and solarisation projects was being extended gradually, adding that Agriculture Transformation Plan was a revolutionary programme in the agriculture history of the province. He also ordered the officials concerned to pay attention to the cultivation of olive in southern Punjab.
The meeting was informed that agriculture researchers of the department have introduced 31 new types of wheat, which have the ability to cope with water shortage and diseases. “New varieties of palm have also been introduced in the province,” he added.
The meeting was briefed about the surplus yield of corn, wheat and rice crops in Punjab. It was also told in the meeting that Agriculture Extension would be restructured and outsourced besides the establishment of centre of excellence for research on rice, wheat, sugarcane and corn.
Agriculture Minister Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, Livestock Minister Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak, P&D chairman, CM’s principal secretary, and the secretaries of Finance, Agriculture and other departments concerned attended the meeting.