The Punjab government has allocated 121,000 acres of cultivable state land to 30,000 landless and deserving families through a new 20-year lease agreement designed to reduce poverty and increase agricultural productivity.
Named “Apna Khet, Apna Rozgar,” the initiative offers selected families land leases at a nominal annual fee of Rs100 per acre. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz supervised the computerized balloting process for the allotments on Monday.
Maryam Nawaz emphasized that the state is granting five acres of cultivable land in the applicants’ respective areas to the most deserving families for the next two decades. She highlighted that the farmers will retain full ownership of their crops, along with the profits generated from their hard work.
Agriculture contributes over 22 percent to Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs approximately 37 percent of the workforce. However, land ownership remains concentrated among wealthy feudal families, leaving millions of rural workers without land.
Senior Member of the Board of Revenue (SMBR) Nabeel Javed informed the chief minister that since the program’s launch on April 22, it attracted 60,000 applicants, including 11,000 women. The final selection of 29,000 beneficiaries was conducted through a transparent, merit-based computerized lottery system.
To support initial cultivation expenses, the provincial government will provide a financial grant of Rs50,000 per acre, amounting to up to Rs200,000 per family for land preparation. Additionally, the provincial agriculture department will offer technical assistance to the beneficiaries.
Officials stated that successful applicants will receive their allotment letters within a week, with physical possession of the leased land scheduled for handover by July 31.
Eligibility criteria for the project strictly limit participation to families who do not currently own any agricultural land. Notably, the government emphasized female inclusion, with women constituting 20 percent of successful applicants in the main ballot and 29 percent in the Cholistan desert region. The latter area, covering 83,000 acres, is reserved for a separate phase of the allotment scheme.
