Great movements begin with tiny, bold steps.
A plucky move by a bank in its death throes not just turned its own future on its head, but launched a regional agrarian revolution of sorts, adding tremendous value to people’s lives.
Palliyackal Service Cooperative Bank at Ezhikkara, north of Ernakulam, was sinking, with accumulated losses of over Rs 40 lakh in year 2000 when its board, then presided by CPI(M) Area Secretary K.K. Gopi, sought to revive its fortunes by deciding to support farming. “There was trust deficit and Ezhikkara, with its high soil salinity, hardly had any farming legacy,” says M.P. Vijayan, the bank’s secretary all these years.
What seemed to be a wild-goose-chase suddenly looked attainable and in no time, five self-help groups (SHG) with 96 volunteers were formed. The members comprised those with marginal land holding, the landless and cut across religious, caste and party lines. “An award-winning farmer, A.P. Venugopal, introduced them to farming methods at a workshop and a landowner, Neelakandan Ilayathu of Parapilly Illam, offered 3.5 acres for the mission. Several others followed suit and we got some 25 acres of land to start with. On our part, the bank decided to grant loans at 4 per cent interest with fellow-farmers in an SHG as surety,” he explains.
The project was soon brought under the Kisan Credit Card scheme and a fair share of loans was disbursed in kind, in step with the progress of farming activity. Since there was hardly any traditional agricultural activity in the area, this was integrated with the Panchayat’s agri-production programme.
“It so happened that the first lot of fertilisers we got as part of this at subsidised rates was organic. Excitement was in the air as the process of farming began. It’s history that we were able to sell our first harvest for Rs 65,000.”
Over the years, the project grew in magnitude. “At the moment, there are 28 SHGs with over 700 farmers. Over 2,200 families are involved in the activity directly or otherwise. The bank alone annually sells produces worth Rs 1.5 crore.”
Palliyackal is now a model cooperative bank with deposits to the tune of Rs 51 crore; loans worth Rs 38 crore and with Rs 1.5 crore in share capital.
A plucky move by a bank in its death throes launched a regional agrarian revolution of sorts at Ezhikkara.
