The government plans to disburse about Rs 8,500 crore as crop loans through cooperatives in 2014-15, Cooperation Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad said on Tuesday.

He told reporters that cooperative institutions distributed about `7,559 crore and helped more than 21,9515 farmers in the previous fiscal. “Over 90 per cent of the crop loans distributed last year carried zero per cent interest,” he said.

He said for this fiscal, the maximum limit for zero-per cent short-term crop loans has been fixed at Rs 3 lakh and more than 25 lakh farmers are expected to avail this benefit. He also said the government has paid off the arrears of farmers whose loans were waived under a scheme by the previous BJP government and added that the rate of loan recovery by primary cooperative societies stood at an improved 64 per cent in 2013-14.

Source - http://www.newindianexpress.com/