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Drought-hit farmers in Maharashtra, especially in Marathwada and Western Vidarbha regions, will get some relief from banks in the form of rescheduling of agriculture loan and also get fresh loans for the new crop season.
According to CB Arkatkar, Deputy General Manager, Bank of Maharashtra & Member-Secretary, State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), Maharashtra, the State government, in consultation with Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, is now considering rescheduling the loans.
Arkatkar said given the vagaries of farming, it’s time farmers diversify the source of their income by venturing into dairy, poultry, etc.
At the last SLBC meeting in February, DK Jain, Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture and Marketing), informed members that 14,708 villages in Maharashtra were declared as drought-hit. Vinayak Tarale, Director, Maharashtra State Co-operative Banks’ Association, said some district central co-operative banks and urban co-operative banks in the drought-hit parts of the State are seeing increased withdrawals from deposits when compared with last year.
The reasons for this could be many — farmers adjusting the loan account so that they become eligible for higher quantum of fresh loans, emergencies at home or migration to cities for work.
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