Punjab Runs Six Schemes for Farmers. Start With the Kisan Card.

Punjab's Agriculture Department lists six chief minister's initiatives aimed at farmers. Most coverage mentions one of them, usually the Kisan Card, and stops there.

We read the department's own site on 11 August 2026. Here is what is actually on the list, what each one is for, and where to start.

The six, as the department lists them

There is also Apna Khet Apna Rozgar, which the department runs with a published winners list, and Dastak, the province's doorstep delivery service for government paperwork.

Start with the Kisan Card

If you only engage with one of these, it is this one, because it is the gateway to most of the input support rather than a scheme on its own.

The card is designed to let a farmer draw cash support, subsidies and credit for seed, fertiliser and pesticide directly, instead of going through layers of paperwork or an intermediary who takes a cut.

That design tells you what problem the province thinks it has. The problem is not that support does not exist. It is that support has historically leaked before reaching the person farming the land.

Why credit and machinery are the pressure points

Three of the six schemes are essentially about money for equipment or inputs. That is not an accident.

A smallholder cannot buy a tractor outright, so hires one, and hiring rates eat the margin on a small plot. A smallholder also cannot absorb a bad season, so buys inputs on credit from whoever will extend it, often at terms nobody would choose.

Subsidised tractors, machinery finance and a credit card for inputs all attack the same thing from different angles. Whether they reach smallholders at scale is a separate question, and one we have no disbursement data to answer.

The graduate internship is a different kind of intervention. Agriculture degrees in Pakistan have long had a weak bridge into paid work, and a placement scheme is an attempt at that bridge.

The sesame and canola scheme is about the import bill

This one looks technical and is worth understanding, because it is about the national accounts rather than any one farm.

Pakistan spends heavily on imported edible oil. Sesame, soybean and canola are oilseed crops, and growing more of them domestically reduces that bill. Sesame in particular has an export market.

So a farmer being encouraged into these crops is being asked to help with a macroeconomic problem. That is fine, and it can pay well, but the honest framing is that the incentive exists because the country needs the crop, not only because it suits the grower.

How to approach any of them

1. Start at the department's own site, agripunjab.gov.pk, rather than a scheme website you found through search.
2. Have your CNIC and land record ready. Most of these need proof you actually farm the land.
3. Apply for the Kisan Card first if you are unsure, since it underpins the input support.
4. Ask about Dastak, which delivers government services to your door and covers agriculture among other departments.
5. Never pay an agent to register you. These are free to apply for, and anyone charging a fee to fill a form is selling you nothing.

What we are not telling you, deliberately

We are not printing landholding limits, subsidy percentages, credit ceilings on the Kisan Card, tractor prices or application deadlines.

None of it was on the department page we read. And every search result that carried those numbers confidently was a scheme aggregator site rather than a government source.

Farm credit decisions turn on exactly those figures. A wrong credit limit or a stale deadline could cost somebody a season, so we would rather point you at the department than repeat a number we cannot stand behind.

That aggregator problem is worth knowing about in its own right. Search for almost any Punjab scheme and the first page is dominated by sites that exist to rank for the scheme name, not by the department running it. Check the domain before you trust a figure, the same discipline we apply to government websites generally.

Where this fits with the rest

Agriculture support sits alongside the other provincial programmes we have been mapping this week. Punjab separately runs six free health programmes, and its welfare department lists 158 shelters, homes and rehabilitation centres.

The pattern across all three is the same. The schemes are real, the information is public, and it is scattered across portals that nobody would find without knowing they exist.

Questions readers are asking

What is the Punjab Kisan Card?

A chief minister's initiative giving farmers access to cash support, subsidies and credit for inputs directly, rather than through intermediaries. It is listed on the Punjab Agriculture Department's site as one of six farmer initiatives.

How do I apply for Punjab farmer schemes?

Start at agripunjab.gov.pk with your CNIC and land record details. Avoid third party scheme websites, which dominate search results but are not the department.

Is there a subsidised tractor scheme in Punjab?

Yes. The Green Tractor Program is listed among the department's chief minister's initiatives, alongside a separate Hi-Tech Farm Mechanization Financing Program for other machinery.

How much credit does the Kisan Card give?

We are not quoting a figure. The limits circulating online come from aggregator sites rather than the department, and a wrong credit limit could cost a farmer a season. Confirm with the department.

Is there anything for agriculture graduates?

Yes, an Internship Scheme for Agriculture Graduates is listed among the six initiatives.

Do I have to pay to apply?

No. These schemes are free to apply for. Anyone charging you to fill in a form is not providing a government service.

What is Dastak?

A Punjab doorstep delivery service for government services, offered across several departments including agriculture and energy.