Uncovered farmers may get agricultural loans

The ministry has asked banks to advance credit before September 30

Hemantha Bhide, Lead District Chief Manager, and Deputy CommissionerN.S. Channappa Gowda at bank managers’ meeting in Mangalore on Monday.

Banks in Dakshina Kannada will be advancing agriculture credit to those farmers who have not availed them during a special drive next month.

This was in accordance with the August 19 directive to banks by the Union Ministry of Finance, according to Hemantha Bhide, Lead District Chief Manager, Dakshina Kannada. The ministry had directed to advance agriculture credit to uncovered farmers before September 30 to achieve cent per cent coverage of farmers.

At a meeting convened to launch a campaign to this effect here on Monday, he said that the lead banks had prepared a schedule to achieve the objective.

Accordingly, banks would distribute farm loans to needy farmers by opening their accounts between September 15 and 24, he said. The Revenue Department would submit lists of land holding farmers in rural and semi-urban areas to conveners of block-level bankers' committee in taluks by September 5. The convenors would pass on those lists to respective service area bank managers by September 8. The bank managers should mark the names of farmers who had earlier availed loans and return the lists to the convenors by September 10.

All bank managers would sit together and identify the farmers who have not availed agriculture credit by September 14. After issuing loans to needy farmers up to September 24, bank managers would send their details to the Lead District Chief Manager, Mangalore, by September 26. The Lead District Chief Manager would send them to the Deputy Commissioner by September 28 to enable him to declare cent per cent coverage on September 30.

Mr. Bhide said that according to statistics collected by him, there were 2.13 lakh farm holdings (farmers) in the district. Of them, 1.46 lakh farmers, including 26,089 members of self-help groups, had availed loans.

Deputy Commissioner N.S. Channappa Gowda, who presided over the meeting, appealed to farmers to approach the service area branches and avail the agriculture credit facility.

Mr. Bhide said that agriculture credit comprised in addition to crop loans, advance for dairying, poultry, land levelling, and land development.