110,000 smartphones to be distributed among Punjab farmers

A Pakistani farmer checks his cell phone for weather updates and estimates of how much irrigation water he will need over the next few days.Punjab Government said on Monday it will provide free Android smartphones to 110,000 farmers in the province. The objective is to keep the farmers updated about the Agriculture Department’s recommendations about their crops. (Photo courtesy: Faisal Hossain and PCRWR)

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif will on Monday inaugurate a scheme to provide free Android smartphones to 110,000 farmers in the province.
The objective is to keep the farmers updated about the Agriculture Department’s recommendations about their crops, department spokesman Shakeel Uppal told Radio Pakistan.
Registered farmers under the Khadim-e-Punjab Kissan package will have to pay 500-1,000 Pakistani rupees ($4.52-$9.04) to acquire a smartphone, he said.
The government will also provide free-of-cost 1 gigabyte of Internet data per month to the farmers, Uppal added.
Agriculture is the largest sector in the country’s economy, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Agriculture contributes 24 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), accounts for half of the employed labor force, and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings.