THE Punjab budget is a Kisan-friendly package. By allocating a huge sum of Rs3Obn, for the first time50pc sul>sidy has been for tractor prices for 0.5m farmers. No, government, even the PML-N`s, has given a higher subsidy before. Tractor prices have jumped up to Rs2.2m leading to a lull in the sale of the machine for small farmers. Likewise, the Rs75bn interest-free credit facility eliminating over 20pc of the Kibor will help the smallholders to buy farm inputs weII in time and without going to informal creditors like Arhtis and fertiliser and pesticide dealers for inputs on credit at highly exploiting terms.

The establishment of the Punjab Kisan Bank to meet the cash requirements of the farming community in the future will further strengthen credit availability as the Zarai Taraqiati Bank has de-tracked from its stated path and is working like other commercial banks, giving a fig to the needs of small farmers. However, abolishing the wheat and cotton support price mechanism in Punjab and replacing it with a freemarket mechanism allowing the farmers to sell their produce anywhere may have been another much-needed step to improve the financial position of the sector. •