Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has launched the fourth phase of the Green Tractor Scheme through a digital balloting process, with the provincial government offering a subsidy of Rs750,000 on each tractor.
The government has also opened an online application portal for the fifth phase of the initiative and plans to provide a total of 19,500 tractors to farmers during the current financial year.
Under the fourth phase, 10,000 tractors with engine capacities ranging from 50 to 65 horsepower will be distributed among eligible farmers. Each successful applicant will receive a subsidy of Rs750,000 towards the purchase of a tractor.
According to officials, the first tractor selected through the digital ballot was awarded to Masood Khan, son of Lal Khan, from Attock.
The fifth phase will offer another 9,500 tractors with engine capacities of 75 to 125 horsepower. The subsidy in this phase has been increased to Rs1 million per tractor.
The Punjab government has allocated Rs17.6 billion for the Green Tractor Scheme. Officials said the programme has already resulted in the provision of 24,000 tractors to farmers, with a subsidy of Rs1 million offered on each tractor.
More than 213,637 farmers applied for the scheme. Following verification by the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA) and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), a total of 128,757 applicants were declared eligible to participate in the digital balloting.
Under the scheme’s eligibility criteria, applicants were required to own at least five acres of agricultural land.
During a briefing to the chief minister, officials said that 35,000 tractors had been distributed during Maryam Nawaz’s two-and-a-half-year tenure, compared with 10,000 tractors distributed over the preceding 20 years.
The briefing further stated that Rs20 billion had been spent on agricultural mechanisation during the same period, compared with Rs3 billion spent over the previous two decades.