LAHORE   -  Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani met Director General (DG) Land Information Management System (LIMS) Major General Shahid Nazir at Agriculture House, Lahore, on Wednesday. The DG told the minister that the LIMS had been established under the management of the federal government and with cooperation of the Pakistan Army. It was primarily working to make uncultivated and barren areas to convert into cultivable and till now, 3 lakh acres of canal area of Punjab was being made cultivated, he added and said that the organisation would also provide agricultural machinery services on rental to small farmers in Punjab. In this regard, all the farmers was being registered to resolve their field emergent problems and to increase per acre production, he said. Shahid Nazir added that 16 private companies related to the business of agriculture sector under the management of LIMS would provide all the facilities to the farmers. Seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery and equipment on rental basis and all other items would be available to the farmers in the established agricultural malls covering a wide area, he maintained. He endorsed that the main objective was to reduce the production cost of the farmers and to promote smart agriculture farming. The DG said, “We have purchased heavy duty tractors and drones. Training of farmers will also be arranged in agricultural malls and marketing platform will be provided to farmers”. Storage capacity would be increased for farmers to store grain and other essential commodities he added and said private sector would be encouraged to set up Solace. In this regard, project timelines were being followed closely. Minister Ashiq Kirmani said that the Punjab government and LIMS would work together under the mutual partnership agreement, which would make it possible to achieve agricultural prosperity according to the vision of chief minister, Punjab. He said that this was a funded programme of the Punjab government. The Punjab government was providing 26,000 agricultural implements, 5,000 super seeders, 2,000 rice straw shredders and 9,500 tractors of 50 to 85 horsepower on subsidy for the promotion of agricultural mechanisation, the minister said. The Punjab government is trying to give agricultural machinery to the farmers on subsidy which they do not already have and by using which it is possible not only to increase the agricultural production but also Environmental pollution can also be controlled, Kirmani said. Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that under a business formula, LIMS and Punjab government would run the company on a profit-free basis. Iftikhar Ali further said that the location of these agricultural malls was very important. In the first phase, these centres would be established at the district level. Special Secretary Agriculture Nabil Agha, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Planning) Punjab Captain (Rtd) Waqas Rasheed, Consultant Agriculture Department Dr. Anjum Ali and Director General Agriculture (Extension) Chaudhry Abdul Hameed were also present during the meeting.