Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has announced the province's first Apna Kisan Bank, alongside a package of ten measures aimed at easing the cost of farming. Speaking to farmers in Lahore on 28 October 2026, she said the new bank would sit at the centre of a wider effort to give growers cheaper credit, better machinery and stronger support at harvest time. The announcement also raised the amount farmers can borrow through the Kisan Card and confirmed the wheat support price for the coming season.

A new bank and cheaper farm credit

Under the plan, farmers will be able to take interest-free loans of up to Rs100 million, while the Kisan Card limit rises by Rs3,500 per acre, from Rs30,000 to Rs33,500. The provincial government said subsidised farm loans worth Rs17 billion would be available, and that more than one million small farmers already use the Kisan Card. Officials also pointed to steps to bring tenant farmers and leaseholders into the scheme, and to a loan recovery record close to 100 per cent, which the chief minister presented as evidence that the card system was working as intended.

Wheat price, tractors and olive farming

The package confirmed a wheat support price of Rs4,500 per maund, in line with the federal government's decision, and included a special package to promote olive cultivation. On machinery, the chief minister said 25,000 tractors had already been provided at subsidised rates, with 50,000 more on offer, and that Rs70 billion was being set aside for high-tech agricultural mechanisation. She also announced 400 mini dams in the Potohar region to improve water availability. The measures will matter most if the application process is simple and the money reaches small growers in time for sowing, rather than only larger farms.

Sources: TechJuice, Capital News Point.