LAHORE, Nov 10 (DNA): A delegation of Japanese company Kubota, led by Shin Hirata and Mashashi Tanaka, met Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo to discuss opportunities for cooperation in the agricultural sector, here on Tuesday.
Welcoming the delegation, the ACS briefed its members on the Punjab government’s ongoing initiatives to modernise agriculture, promote advanced technologies and facilitate farmers.
Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s vision was to bring Punjab’s agricultural sector in line with modern technological developments. He said the provincial government was providing interest-free loans to farmers for the purchase of modern agricultural machinery. He added that the financing limit for agricultural machinery service providers had also been increased, enabling them to purchase 10 to 15 modern machines and offer them to farmers on a rental basis.
To encourage the use of environmentally friendly agricultural machinery, the government is providing a 30 per cent subsidy on machinery rental charges, he said. The initiative aims to make modern and environment-friendly agricultural technologies more accessible to farmers.
The ACS said Kubota’s agricultural machinery was already popular among farmers in Punjab. Inviting the company to establish manufacturing plants in the province, he said local production would make quality agricultural machinery available to farmers at more affordable prices while accelerating the adoption of modern technology in the agricultural sector. He said Kubota’s advanced machinery, including combine harvesters and rice transplanters, was well suited to Punjab’s agricultural requirements.
Representatives of Kubota informed the meeting that more than 23,000 units of the company’s combine harvester series had been sold in China, while sales in Bangladesh had exceeded 2,100 units.
Iftikhar Ali Sahoo further emphasised that promoting modern agricultural machinery must go hand in hand with the availability of trained technical staff, prompt repair services and a reliable supply of spare parts to ensure that farmers could fully benefit from the latest equipment.
