Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday said that the Earlier, he said that farmers are the backbone of the State’s economy and agriculture is the largest employer in the state in addition to being the key to socio-economic development of our people.
Secretary to Chief Minister V K Pandian moderated the meeting .
Launching the ‘SAFAL’– simplified application for agricultural loans–portal here he said that his government, therefore, lays special emphasis on the development of the farming sector through various interventions supported by a comprehensive and inclusive state agricultural policy with the government taking strides in increasing the income of farmers.
The common credit portal can revolutionise credit provisions for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs, he said in a virtual address.
The Chief Minister said that the application is a one-stop-solution for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to avail formal sector credit from public and private sector banks, Regional Rural Banks, State Cooperative Banks and Small Finance Banks.
“With this facility farmers and agri entrepreneurs will have access to more than 300 term loan products being offered by 40 plus partner banks,” he said.
Besides, he added, it has been integrated with Krushak Odisha as well as the access to 70 plus model project reports.
“It will ease the loan application process benefiting both the farmers and banks significantly. The portal will also reduce information asymmetry by sending farmers real-time notifications at every stage of their loan application,” he assured.
The SAFAL will also provide the government with complete visibility of demand and disbursal of formal credit across states and ensure schemes are designed in a data-backed manner, he said and added, “SAFAL would be a facilitator of credit to spur the agriculture and allied sectors in our State and increase the economic prowess of our farmers in the long run.”
Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari appreciated the Chief Minister’s vision for empowerment of farmers inclusion in the economic process while Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain outlined the steps taken by his department for economic development and welfare of farmers.
Chief Secretary S C Mahapatra, Development Commissioner Pradeep Jena, Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) Sanjeev Chopra graced the occasion.
Principal Secretary Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare Arabinda Padhee highlighted the achievement of Odisha in the agriculture sector.
CEO of RBI Innovation Hub and CMD of UCO Bank said that Banks appreciate the Chief Minister’s efforts for economic integration of farmers and agri entrepreneurs.
They assured complete support by banks to farmers in the all the initiatives of the state government.