Punjab invites Kubota to build local plants to make farm machinery more affordable

Punjab has invited Japanese agricultural machinery manufacturer Kubota to set up production plants in the province, seeking to lower equipment costs for farmers and speed up agricultural mechanisation.

Additional Chief Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo discussed the proposal with a Kubota delegation led by Shin Hirata and Mashashi Tanaka at Lahore’s Civil Secretariat on Tuesday. The talks covered cooperation on modern machinery and advanced farming technologies.

Briefing the delegation on provincial initiatives, Sahoo said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif wanted Punjab’s agriculture sector to keep pace with technological developments. He said interest-free loans were being provided to help farmers buy modern agricultural machinery.

The financing ceiling for agricultural machinery service providers had also been raised, he said, allowing them to purchase 10 to 15 modern machines for rental services. Farmers could access this equipment without purchasing it themselves.

Sahoo said the government was also subsidising machinery rental charges by 30 per cent. The support was intended to encourage environmentally friendly equipment and widen farmers’ access to modern farming technologies.

Making the case for local manufacturing, he said production in Punjab would reduce the cost of quality machinery. He described Kubota’s combine harvesters and rice translators as particularly suited to the province’s agricultural needs.

Kubota’s representatives said sales of its combine harvester series had exceeded 23,000 units in China and crossed 2,100 units in Bangladesh.

Sahoo stressed that machinery adoption needed trained technicians, effective repair services and dependable spare-parts supplies to ensure equipment was used effectively. He said Punjab wanted stronger cooperation with international companies to expand mechanisation, raise productivity and support farmers through modern technology.