MUMBAI: The pre-monsoon activities have started but the farmers are facing hardships to get the crop loan. The banks are not disbursing the loan citing various reasons like previous default and other technical issues.
Maharashtra government has planned to disburse the Rs 43,000 crore crop loan this year. The crop loan is very important for farmers to buy seeds, fertilizers and other farm-related items. If the farmers do not have money in their hand, then they will be unable to sow and cultivate their farm.
As per the government, out of total Rs 43,000 crore, the nationalized banks disbursed Rs 2300 crore against the given target of Rs 32,161 crore while district and co-operative banks disbursed Rs 6258 crore against the target of Rs 13,524 crore. It shows that the nationalized banks have disbursed a total 7 per cent of crop loan while the district and co-operative banks have disbursed 46 per cent of the amount.
Maharashtra government had announced the farm loan waiver scheme but the scheme could not get fully implemented because of the pandemic situation and further lockdown. The benefit of this farm loan waiver could not reach to farmers, many of who are on the defaulter list. The banks are refusing to disburse the fresh loan to these farmers.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had called the meeting of the banks and other stakeholders and asked to disburse the loan to all farmers. Thackeray had also taken the guarantee of the farmers who were on the defaulter list of the banks.
In Western Maharashtra, the crop loan disbursement has been happening effectively while in Marathwada and Vidarbha, it has been quite slow. The banks are dilly-dallying to offer the crop loan to farmers who are in trouble due to lockdown.
Farmer leader Vijay Jawandia said that the co-operative banks follow the instruction of the state government but the nationalized banks did not follow them. “The nationalized banks follow the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. Therefore, the central government should chip in this condition. The government should declare drought so farmers will get the benefit of government decisions. If the government can give relief package to small scale industries, besides bank are offering moratorium to property purchasers, then why no help to farmers,” Jawandia said.
He said that due to the lockdown, farmers could not sale their agriculture produces this year. “Many farmers dumped their crops at their backyard. The government should extend all possible help to farmers otherwise the agriculture sector will be in big trouble,” said Jawandia.