Nabard to take up 4 more dev projects

Recognising the potential and credit linkages available in Karnataka, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) plans to bring four more activities under the areas development plan.

While announcing the bank's performance for 2005-06, B B Mohanty, Nabard's chief general manager for the Karnataka region, said that in 2006-07, projects relating to arecanut will be taken up in Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga and Davanagere districts.

The cultivation of gerbera will be taken up in Belgaum district, brackish water shrimp farming in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts, bamboo cultivation in Kodagu district and jatropha in Kolar and Bangalore Rural districts.

In 2005-06, the bank was successful in implementing area development projects covering floriculture, medicinal and aromatic crops and fish culture with an outlay of Rs 87 crore and bank loan of Rs 62 crore. With this, 13 area development projects covering 14 districts are under implementation in the state, he added.

Nabard in 2005-06, released Rs 2 lakh to Grameena Mahiti Parishad, an NGO, through the Bank of India, Davanagere, as part-funding (25 per cent of project cost) for establishment of 13 village information centres (VICs) under the e-Grama projects.

"After its successful completion, the project has since been expanded to other districts in Mysore, Tumkur and Belgaum with credit from banks, taking the number of VICs in the state to 67," said Mohanty.

As part of Government of India's schemes being implemented, till date, Nabard has assisted in setting up 35 cold storages (including 13 in 2005-06) under capital investment subsidy scheme (CISS) with an installed capacity of 1.6 lakh tonnes entailing a financial outlay of Rs 67.90 crore.

Nabard also helped construct 941 rural godowns (including 190 in 2005-06) with an aggregate capacity of eight lakh tonnes for storage of agricultural produce/inputs with a financial outlay of Rs 166 crore. An amount of Rs 11.70 crore was released as subsidy during the year, taking the cumulative subsidy released to around Rs 33 crore.

Under the venture capital fund for dairy/poultry scheme which envisages support for capital investments in dairy/poultry sector, a sum of Rs 2.90 crore has been sanctioned as interest free loans to banks in the state.

According to Mohanty, so far, three milk unions i.e. Dakshina Kannada, Bangalore and Tumkur have availed interest free loanS on behalf of 475 dairy co-operative societies and 11 entrepreneurs.