In probably its first reaction to the impact of demonetisation, the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday noted that disbursement of crop loans to farmers through primary agricultural cooperative credit societies has been affected and it would severely affect food production in the State.
The government was “unable to give new loans to farmers for samba cultivation, which forms the major proportion of food production in Tamil Nadu,” an official release stated, adding that a review meeting was chaired by Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju in the Secretariat to discuss the situation.
Crop loans have been given only to the tune of Rs. 2,075 crore as on November 7 this year, as against the annual target of Rs. 6,000 crore, it said, adding the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) announcement “not only disturbed the efforts to meet the target in terms of crop loans disbursement but would also affect the food production in Tamil Nadu”.
As most of the farmers in rural areas have accounts in primary agricultural co-operative credit societies, payment of loans and collection of dues were severely affected, as Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currencies could not be deposited here unlike branches of the nationalised banks, the government noted.
Supply of fertilizers and seeds in all the 4,474 primary agricultural co-operative credit societies has been affected and other services like issuance of birth and death certificates have been severely affected leading to loss of revenue.
