Centre to provide Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency fund to small, marginal farmers

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital fund to ease the stress faced by small and marginal farmers due to the coronavirus-led lockdown across the country.
The refinance support will be provided by NABARD (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) through rural cooperative banks and regional rural banks and will help farmers with inadequate financial resources. This fund is over and above the Rs 90,000 crore to be provided by NABARD through the normal refinance route during this year.

The fund is said to benefit about 3 crore small and marginal farmers and will help them meet their post-harvest (Rabi) and current Kharif crop requirements in May and June, Sitharaman said.
In addition to this, the finance minister also provided Rs 2 lakh crore of concessional credit through Kisan Credit Cards to about 2.5 crore farmers.
The special drive will be undertaken for PM-Kisan beneficiaries, fishermen and animal husbandry farmers.