Nabard has projected a credit potential of ₹179,160 crore for the farm and non-farm activities under the priority sector for 2017-18 in Karnataka.

The State Focus Paper (SFP) prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) shows a growth of 23.82 per cent over previous year (2016-17) of ₹144,694 crore.

“The project for agriculture is ₹102,367 crore which is 57 per cent of the total projection for Karnataka,” MI Ganagi, Chief General Manager, Karnataka, told Business Line . “This enhanced credit flow for priority sector is necessary to boost the process of revival of the agriculture and rural sectors in the state,” he added.

Sector-wise allocation

Credit potential for Agriculture ₹102,366.83 crore, MSME ₹38,288.68 crore, export credit ₹3,901.2 crore, education ₹4,686.14 crore, housing ₹18,663.77 crore, renewable energy ₹1036.71 crore, others ₹8861.53 crore, social infrastructure involving bank credit ₹1355.13 crore.

Agriculture in Karnataka provides livelihood for more than 50 per cent of the State’s population, has been showing signs of declining growth and is in acute distress. “The growth of agriculture and allied sector has shown a decline of 4.7 per cent in 2015-16(advanced estimates) as against a growth of 1.6 per cent during 2014-15,” Ganagi.

Govt schemes

To ensure and maintain agricultural growth rate, Karnataka government has been implementing a plethora of schemes and programmes to support agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, agro and food processing, agricultural produce marketing.

“To support these initiatives of state government, banks are also aggressively supporting the agriculture sector as seen from the ground level credit disbursed by banks in the state which increased from Rs 12,013 crore in 2005-06 to ₹84,834 crore in 2015-16,” Ganagi said. Karnataka, which has huge credit potential, is hindered as only 76 per cent of the landholdings are cultivated by small and marginal farmers owning as much as 41 per cent of the cultivable land.

“This fragmentation of holdings is viewed as a major inhibitor of modernisation of agriculture and lower income of our farmers. Deficit/erratic rainfall are another serious concern resulting in poor yields and inadequate incomes to farmers,” Ganagi said.

Keeping this mind, Nabard has suggested strategies for drought mitigation.

For doubling farm incomes, Nabard has been handholding Karnataka with numerous bankable projects.

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