PM Nawaz Sharif He said the traders of agriculture commodities, fruits, vegetables and fish would get an exemption of three years on income tax while the sales tax on cold chain machinery had been reduced from 17 to seven percent.

Sharif said the installation of production unit of Halal meat that will be registered before December 31, 2016 will be given a four-year exemption on income tax.

He said banks in general show reluctance in giving loans to small farmers due to risks involved, which he said could be overcome through provision of guarantees.

He said the government would provide Rs 30 billion as the fifty percent guarantee to banks on loans. This will benefit around 0.3 million farmer households through Rs 0.1 million each with collateral loans.

The Prime Minister mentioned that the time-limit to pay back Rs 34 billion outstanding loan on the rice traders had been extended up to June 30, 2016.

He said the government and the State Bank of Pakistan were working over reducing the mark-up rate on agriculture loans by two percent which would give a benefit of Rs 11 billion per anum to farmers.