Waiver an eyewash, farm loan disbursal still dismal
The discontent in the agriculture sector is set to deepen in the state. Nationalised, cooperative and private banks have met only 26 per cent of their crop loan target of Rs 43,342 crore as on June 25 of this kharif season.
After the state wrote off farm loans in July last year, it was expected that this percentage would jump to 40-45. But, banks have remained tight-fisted and loan disbursal is almost identical to that of last year. As on June 30, 2017, around 27% of crop loan was disbursed, said an official from the state cooperation department.
The state deposited nearly Rs 24,500 crore in nearly 48 farmers’ accounts as of May this year, thus making them eligible for crop loans.
The pace of loan disbursal has not picked up despite Vidarbha-Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola district collectors acting against banks by withdrawing government deposits earlier this month.
May-June is crucial as farmers need loans to buy seeds and fertilisers, and perform various pre-sowing activities. Activists fear that banks’ reluctance to issue loans will drive them into the hands of private moneylenders. Ajit Navale, general secretary of the state unit of Kisan Sabha, said, “Due to stringent conditions put by the government, many farmers have not become eligible for the loan waiver. The state had announced that its move would help 78 lakh farmers, but just 48 lakh have benefited so far.”
The state has written off loans of only up to Rs 1.5 lakh. Farmers whose loans were bigger than this sum were left in a fix since they had neither benefited from the loan waiver scheme nor could they apply for fresh loans to pay off their dues, said Navale.
The Kisan Sabha official said there’s a third category that managed to secure a loan waiver but not fresh loans from banks. “Banks often tell such farmers that they have not received guidelines from the government,” alleged Navale.
