Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Aug 09, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Aug 09, 2004 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Farm credit Money & Banking - Agricultural Institutions Nabard to launch pilot scheme for loans to small, marginal farmers Our Bureau
The Nabard Chairperson, Ms Ranjana Kumar, listening to views of participants at a seminar on farm sector in Hyderabad on Sunday. — P.V. Sivakumar
Hyderabad , Aug. 8 IN tune with the national thrust on agriculture, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is launching a pilot scheme to give loans to small and marginal farmers through `rythu mitra' groups. Nabard will implement this scheme in six districts — Mahboobnagar, Kadapa, Vizianagaram, Nizamabad, Guntur and Anantapur — of Andhra Pradesh. Announcing this here at a press conference on Sunday, Ms Ranjana Kumar, Chairperson of Nabard, said banks would be allowed to give credit to these groups, which, in turn, would lend to their members. At a later stage the scheme will be implemented in other States where farmers' self-help groups were strong. Ms Ranaja was here to participate in the two-day national consultative meet to discuss critical issues confronting farmers. The meet was the culmination of month-long meetings held in seven States to discuss the problems faced by farmers at the ground level. Ms Ranjana Kumar said Nabard would take up an initiative to reactivate about 9,000 farmers' clubs around the country in order to disseminate critical information on various issues. She said all the stakeholders such as banks, Government and agricultural universities would be roped in for the purpose. "We will tell them on alternative crops and non-farm activities that could help them generate income," she said. She said the feedback from farmers across the country revealed that availability of timely, adequate and hassle-free credit was a major impediment. Ms Ranjana wanted the banks to keep in mind the personal requirements of farmers. "Otherwise, the loans taken for farming activity might be diverted for meeting their social obligations," she cautioned. The scale of finance for crop loans fixed by district level technical committee needed to be realistic and flexible. Stating that awareness on several schemes was lacking, she said trickling down of the schemes to the end user held the key. The bank is finalising a plan for simplification of documentation for loans below Rs 1 lakh. "Documentation will be done in the language of the farmer," she said. Pointing out that agriculture is a State subject, she felt that there should be an integrated approach when it came to offering training and other extension activities. "Agriculture can't be run by a single agency. These should be not done in isolated way by different organs," she observed. She said the bank had advised cooperative banks to mend their policies keeping in mind the competition.
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