For the first time in decades, the Bidar district central cooperative bank will offer loans to farmers for taking up sowing in the Rabi season. This follows an instruction by the Zilla Panchayat that farmers should be given loans in two separate sets in a year.
The 95-year old bank has always given farm loans during the Kharif season, while lending during the returning monsoon has been sporadic. Bank officials admit that significant amounts have not been distributed since the drought of 1994. Actually, Rabi lending has not been a regular feature at all. We achieved the targets each year by one time lending through the medium term loans, a senior officer said.
There is a reason behind this, say officials. The number of farmers who cultivate during Kharif is more than Rabi. Advancing monsoon sowing needs more investment for inputs and labour than during the returning monsoon.
Those who opt for Rabi cultivation are those with large land holdings and irrigation facilities. Only a third of the land is cultivated in Rabi, agriculture department officials say. These are among the reasons why there is a lower demand for Rabi loans, they say.
“We don’t differentiate between lending for Kharif and Rabi,” says Umakanth Nagamarapalli, bank chairman. “We give loans to farmers any time they want through Kisan Credit Cards. We tell them that they can renew their loans on any day of the year. But by force of habit, farmers tend to take or repay loans during Kharif,” he said. Around 88 crore that we collected in old currency after demonetisation is yet to be replenished by RBI. Once that happens, we will disburse Rabi loans to a larger extent, he said.
BDCC Bank releases 75 per cent of all the farm loans in the district. It has a network of branches and primary agriculture cooperative societies that cover nearly 80 per cent of villages and habitations. According to Mr. Nagamarapalli, the bank has Rs. 1,194 crore of deposits, Rs. 2,394 crore of working capital, and Rs. 95.44 crores of share capital. It has a valid license from the RBI for all banking transactions including computerised banking and fund transfer.
As the nodal agency for promotion of self help groups, it has led to the creation of over 20,000 groups that have saved over Rs. 400 crore in 20 years.
Farmers need loans during Rabi season. It is wrong to assume that large farmers don’t need farm credit. That is why we requested the DCC bank to start giving away Rabi loans. Bank officials have informed that they are processing over loan applications from 25,000 farmers. It is a good development, R. Selva Mani, ZP CEO, said.
