LAHORE: The Punjab government has allocated 121,000 acres of cultivable state land to 30,000 landless and deserving families under a new 20-year lease programme aimed at reducing poverty and increasing agricultural production.

Under the “Apna Khet, Apna Rozgar” initiative, selected families will receive land on a symbolic annual lease of Rs100 per acre.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz supervised the computerised balloting process for the allotments on Monday.

“The state is giving five acres of cultivable land in their respective areas to the most deserving families for the next 20 years,” Maryam Nawaz said.

“The crop will belong to the farmer, the hard work will be yours, and the profit will be yours.”

Agriculture contributes more than 22 per cent to Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs around 37 per cent of the country’s workforce. However, land ownership remains concentrated among large landowners, leaving millions of rural workers without farmland.

Senior Member of the Board of Revenue (SMBR) Nabeel Javed briefed the chief minister that the programme received around 60,000 applications after its launch on April 22, including 11,000 from women.

He said nearly 29,000 successful applicants were selected through a transparent, merit-based computerised ballot.

To support cultivation, the provincial government will provide a financial grant of Rs50,000 per acre for land preparation, amounting to up to Rs200,000 for each beneficiary family. The agriculture department will also provide technical assistance to farmers.

Officials said allotment letters would be issued to successful applicants within a week, while physical possession of the leased land would be handed over by July 31.

Under the scheme, only families without any existing agricultural land were eligible to apply.

The provincial government also highlighted women’s participation in the programme, stating that women accounted for 20 per cent of the successful applicants in the main ballot and 29 per cent in the Cholistan region, where 83,000 acres have been earmarked for a separate phase of the land allotment scheme.