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Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 26 As part of the agricultural package, accumulated interest to the tune of Rs 219 crore on farms loans in three districts of Kerala has been written off.

This was revealed at a review meeting presided over by the Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, here on Tuesday.

The written-off interest pertains to the outstanding loans of the farmers till 2006 in the districts of Kasaragod, Wayanad and Palakkad where the maximum number of farmers committed suicide between 2001 and 2006, according to an official statement.

The meeting was informed that 1,130 tonnes of seeds had been distributed in the areas affected by the agricultural crisis to take up cultivation again.

Besides, watershed development programmes are being implemented over an area of 10,000 hectares in the three districts by the Local Administration Department.

Under the package, an amount of Rs 50 lakh to 1,665 farmers in Wayanad, Rs 44.77 lakh to 1,510 farmers in Palakkad, and Rs 31.13 lakh to 1,175 farmers in Kasaragod had been distributed from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

The representatives of the banks said at the meeting that the scheme for rescheduling of loans had not been totally successful.

The scheme is of Rs 815.53 crore, out of which only loans amounting Rs 320.75 crore have been rescheduled so far and this has been attributed to the reluctance of the farmers to sign the relevant documents.

The Government is implementing a vegetable cultivation programme in the three districts at an outlay of Rs 46 crore.

Steps have been initiated to start projects worth Rs 9.6 crore under the programme and around 30,000 applications have been received from farmers to be part of the projects.

The selection of beneficiaries will be completed within a month.

More Stories on : Farm credit | Non-Performing Assets | Agricultural Policy | Kerala

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Rs 219-cr interest on farm loans written off

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