Punjab Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that registration of Kisan Card would be started from June 1st. He presided over a meeting here, in which he reviewed the progress related to issuance of Kisan Card and setting up of Centres of Excellence.
A portal system would be introduced for the registration of the farmers, he said and added that interest-free agricultural loans would be provided through Bank of Punjab. He said this loan scheme would be very simple and transparent and the procedure of interest free loan scheme had been finalized. Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that this unique loan scheme would be used only for purchase of agricultural inputs. In the meeting, the Secretary gave instructions to the officers and said that the establishment of centers of excellence for Cotton, Wheat and Rice should be finalized soon.
A Center of Excellence was being established at Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad as per international standards. Centers of Excellence for Cotton and Rice would be established at Multan and Kala Shah Kaku respectively, he added. International standard laboratories would be established in the Centers of Excellence, he added. He said that research on cotton was a big challenge and to discover climate smart varieties of cotton, the public and private sectors would have to do research activities together.
