Farmers seek easier access to credit

Farmers' bodies meet prime minister

Leading farmers' associations, including the All-India Kisan Sabha and the Federation of Farmers' Association, today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to redress their problems urgently and take steps for easy and timely flow of farm credit.

Speaking to reporters after a two-hour meeting with the Prime Minister, a member of the delegation, P Chengal Reddy, said Singh had assured he would look into the issues and that the government was moving towards removing the irritants in the credit delivery system for farmers.

"The Prime Minister said there was a need for continuous interaction with farmers to study their problems and the government proposed to streamline the credit delivery mechanism," Reddy, who is the chairman of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Federation of Farmers' Association, said.

Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters among other things, the issue of problems of credit, refinancing for peasants and suicide by farmers was raised by agriculturists.

The president of the All-India Kisan Sabha VV Raghavan said despite the change of government in Andhra Pradesh as many as 446 farmers had committed suicide and asked the state government to act quickly.

Criticising the government, the president of All-India Kisan Cell Ved Pal said, "Small farmers who were unable to repay Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 were put behind bars but those who had defaulted on loans worth crores of rupees were going scot-free."

The farmers' associations also raised the issue of land reforms and bringing down the cost of agricultural inputs.

According to a memorandum presented by Raghvan, the National Agriculture Policy 2000 should be scrapped and a new policy declared in consultation with farmers organisations.

"The descendants of those peasants who committed suicide because of indebtedness should be given compensation, besides adequate assistance for rehabilitation," he said in the memorandum.

The 21-member delegation included representatives from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chauhan also attended the meeting.

Farm demands

• The Prime Minister has assured farmers that there is a need for continuous interaction with farmers to study their problems
• The government has proposed to streamline the credit delivery mechanism
• The farmers' associations also raised the issue of land reforms and bringing down the cost of agricultural inputs
• They have sought the scrapping of the National Agriculture Policy 2000