Four lakh farmers to get Kisan Credit Cards

Agriculture credit in the state of Gujarat is may go up considerably soon following the state government promoted Krishi Mahotsav 2005 (Agriculture Fair), which kicked started on May 11.

The state government has set the target of issuing four lakh Kisan Credit Card during the 30-day event.

According to official website of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), credit to agriculture and allied sectors by all agencies by the end of February, 2005 was Rs 1,04,718.45 crore at all India level.

The concept of Kisan Credit Cards, which was introduced in 1998-99 has so far been issued to about 4.25 crore farmers.

Gujarat has a Kisan Credit Card base of about 17 lakh, which is too small in view of over 35 lakh eligible farmers in the state.

Meanwhile, the banks and financial institutions are trying their best to leverage the platform provided by the state government during Krishi Mahotsav, which will cover all villages of the state.

The state government machinery is organising meetings in all 18,000 villages during this month and distributing agriculture kits, soil health cards and also providing platform to the bankers to explain their various schemes for rural and agriculture credit.

Commenting on their plans during the event, the chief general manager of NABARD, Bhanwar Puri said, "This is the right time to promote the rural and agriculture credit instruments to the farmers.

"So far, we have received a good response and we are expecting to complete majority of our targets during this period."