Bhubaneswar: The State Government has enhanced the limit of disbursement of crop loans from Rs.50,000- to Rs.1,00,000, interest free from April 2022.
Keeping the above in view, the Department of Cooperation has set a target to distribute crop loans of Rs 7,500 crore during the ongoing Rabi season.
The State had distributed crop loans of Rs 5740.56 crore in the Rabi season in the financial year 2019-20, which has been increased to Rs 6868.87 crore in 2020-21 Rabi crop season.
During the 2021-22 Rabi crop season, the State Government had set a target to disburse crop loans of Rs 6,500 crore. However, the amount exceeded the target and Rs 7362.46 crore disbursed to the farmers in 2021-22 Rabi season, sources said.
So, this Rabi season, the loan amount has been increased to Rs 7,500 crore. Highest crop loan target of Rs 650 crore has been given for Bargarh district, followed by Rs 600 crore for Kendrapara district, Rs 550 crore in Sundergarh district, Rs 430 crore for Ganjam, Rs 410 crore for Jajpur district, Rs 400 crore for Balasore, Rs 390 crore for Kuhrda, Rs 380 crore for Balasore, Rs 330 crore for Cuttack and Rs 300 crore for Bhadrak.
Similarly, target was set to distribute Rs 280 crore crop loan in Angul, Rs 180 crore in Dhenkanal, Rs 30 crore in Gajapati, Rs 150 crore in Kalahandi, Rs 50 crore in Nuapada, Rs 130 crore in Sonepur, Rs 120 crore Boudh, Rs 60 crore in Kandhamal, Rs 200 crore in Jagatsinghpur district,
Rs 250 crore in Keonjhar, Rs 170 crore in Koraput, Rs 75 crore in Malkangiri and Rs 130 crore in Nabarangpur district.
Moreover, Rs 230 crore of crop loan will be distributed in Nayagarh district while Rs 85 crore crop loan will be disbursed to farmers of Rayagada, Rs 280 crore for Mayurbhanj, Rs 260 crore for Sambalpur, Rs 110 crore for Jahrsuguda, Rs 100 crore for Deogarh and Rs 170 crore for Puri district.
Secretary Cooperation, Sanjeev Kumar Chadha has asked all District Collectors to give emphasis to cover more number of eligible new farmers under institutional credit in the State.
Hence, meticulous planning and due emphasis needs to be given to make timely and adequate agricultural credit available to the more number of farmers members of the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) of the State, Chadha said.
Crop loans financed by the Cooperatives during last Kharif 2022 registered an all-time high of Rs.6.594.44 crore as on 26 September 2022 as against the target of Rs.9000 crore.
This provides the Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure the ideal backdrop to go for an ambitious Rabi 2022-23 program to meet the credit needs of the farmers and help increase production and productivity in agriculture, he pointed out.
Crop loans sanctioned to farmers have a large interest subvention/incentive component which is provided by the Government of India and the State Government. Hence it is required to obtain valid AADHAR Numbers of the beneficiary farmers to link it to their KCC and the Loan/ Savings Bank Accounts opened In the District Central Cooperative Banks/ PACS Commercial Banks/ RRBs so as to ensure that genuine farmers have access to the subsidized crop roans disbursed through Banks, he added.
Notably, after erratic rainfall during the early part of Kharif 2022 season, State witnessed widespread rains subsequently leading to normal rainfall in 25 districts and above normal rainfall in 5 districts.
This will help retention of residual moisture in the field which will be conducive for Rabi operations.