Banks to ensure timely, easy crop loans: AgriMin

Stating that there should not be any delays in disbursement of crop loans, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Tuesday asked banks to take measures to ease the approval process to provide loans on time to farmers.

He asked the banks to provide "hassle-free" loan facility by standardising documents required and connecting it with Jan Dhan, Aadhar and mobile banking.

The government has set an agricultural credit target for banks at Rs 9 lakh crore for the current financial year, up from Rs 8.5 lakh crore in 2015-16. It is also providing short-term loan of up to Rs 3 lakh for a period of one year at a subsidised interest rate of seven per cent under its scheme. And additional subvention of three per cent is given for those farmers who repay on time.

"There should not be delay in disbursement of crop loan to farmers. Banks should fasten the approval process so that farmers get ride of private moneylenders," Singh said. On doubling farmers' income by 2022, Singh said most of them were "surprised" when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this target and were also "sceptical" if this could be achieved in five years period. "If we try and work together, this is achievable, some think that increasing farmers income means raising the minimum support price (MSP), but MSP is one aspect," he added.

Besides MSP, the government is looking at addressing fundamental issues like raising productivity not only of land, but water, fertiliser and all other inputs used in agriculture, he said, adding all schemes are announced keeping these issue in mind.

Farmers' income will increase when the cost of production comes down and productivity improves. The government is not only focusing on agriculture, but also allied activities like diary, poultry and fishery to boost farmers' income, the minister said.