The Odisha government has set a target to disburse Rs 6,000 crore cooperative loans to the farmers during Kharif 2016, which has already commenced from April 1 this year.
The short-term cooperative credit has been playing a pivotal role in disbursal of farm credit over the years and it has a share of around 65 per cent in crop loan dispensation.
“The government is keen that the cooperatives which provide around 65 per cent of the total crop loan disbursements in the state must extend their outreach to provide timely, adequate and hassle free credit to the farmer members of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) during Kharif-2016”, Manoj Ahuja, secretary (cooperation) wrote to the district collectors.
During Kharif 2015 season, against the target of Rs 5,500 crore crop loan disbursements, the cooperatives have disbursed Rs 5,077.41 crore to 17,34,847 farmers while all the commercial banks including the regional banks have financed Rs 2,155.239 crore to 5,04,569 farmers.
The target of financing Rs 6,000 crore comes after the standing crops were battered due to deficiency of rains in the monsoon in last Kharif.
In Odisha, 28 out of 30 districts have been affected by drought. As many as 15,35,902 hectares of crop area in 29,176 villages of 3,832 gram panchayats under 235 blocks in 28 districts and 412 wards under 55 urban local bodies have suffered crop damage to the extent of 33 per cent and above.
Ahuja said, the commercial and regional rural banks would be given targets separately by the state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) and communicated about it shortly.
A new crop insurance scheme -- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), will be implemented as per the operational modalities approved by the Union government and the State government, which would be communicated to all concerned separately, he added.
Source - business-standard.com
