Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif has launched the 1,000 free tractors scheme for Punjab’s wheat farmers on Tuesday.
Under the “CM Punjab Wheat Initiative Programme,” the Chief Minister held a digital balloting to distribute the free tractors for the province’s farmers.
The free tractors scheme was initiated by the Punjab government to incentivise farmers to cultivate the fertile land of Punjab.
As Pakistan’s agriculture sector contributes around 23 percent to the GDP and employs 37.4 percent of the national labour force.
About 70 percent of Pakistan’s exports are directly or indirectly derived from agriculture.
Winners of Free Tractors Scheme
Interestingly, the first winner of the CM Punjab’s 1,000 free tractors scheme turned out to be a female farmer from Bahawalnagar named Kausar Parveen.
The second winner was Muhammad Iqbal from Jhan who was also a wheat farmer as CM Maryam congratulated him on winning a free tractor.
Furthermore, Chief Minister Maryam presented the award to a farmer from Mandi Bahauddin named Salman Ahmed.
All these farmers received free tractors by participating in the digital balloting in the wheat cultivation free tractors scheme.
“The Punjab government has launched multiple projects for the uplift of farmers including Green Tractor, Kissan Card and Super Seeder,” stated Maryam Nawaz.
She added, “By the grace of Allah Almighty, wheat cultivation will yield bumper crop, I pray for the well-being and prosperity of my farmer brothers.”
How did farmers participate in CM Punjab’s Free Tractor Scheme
More than 57,000 farmers with more than 12.5 acres of land applied for the free tractor scheme in the “Wheat Cultivation” drive.
However, only 21,496 farmers managed to pass the scrutiny and verification process after which they were found eligible for the balloting programme.
1,000 farmers won the tractors for their fields in the balloting process and they will be awarded the tractors within three months.
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