Sindh to pay Rs17 billion wheat subsidy from November 20
Agriculture Minister Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar says 550,000 growers will receive the Rabi-season payment through the Benazir Hari Card, with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to inaugurate it.
Sindh will start paying a Rs17 billion subsidy to wheat growers on November 20 under the Sindh Wheat Growers Support Program, the province's agriculture minister said on Wednesday, with 550,000 farmers to be covered this Rabi season through the Benazir Hari Card.
Minister for Agriculture Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar gave the figure while presiding over a meeting in Karachi on arrangements for the inaugural ceremony, the registration of farmers and the provision of subsidies, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The provincial government has decided to provide the Rs17 billion subsidy for the Rabi season, he told the meeting.
Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will inaugurate the distribution of the subsidy to farmers at an event at the Chief Minister's House on November 20, Mahar said. The Sindh chief minister, provincial ministers, members of the Sindh Assembly and party leaders will attend the ceremony.
Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Zaman Narijo briefed the meeting on the registration process and on arrangements for the event, according to a statement issued in Karachi.
Mahar said the money would reach growers through the Benazir Hari Card, the mechanism the provincial government is using for the Rabi payout.
The statement issued after the meeting did not say how much an individual farmer would receive, how the subsidy would be calculated, or when the payments would be completed.
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