As farmers have defaulted on their payments, they are being turned away by banks, agriculture activist said.

Farmers in Maharashtra are seeking a rescheduling of their old loans and sanctioning of new crop loans for this kharif season, beginning in a couple of weeks.

Agriculture activist Vijay Jawandia has urged the centre to direct banks to give new crop loans to farmers and reschedule their old loans so that they can stand on their own feet and start on a clean slate from this season.

“Farmers across the Vidarbha and Marathwada region in Maharashtra are struggling to get crop loans
to buy seeds and fertilizers and prepare for kharif season that begins soon. While the state government has asked banks to help farmers avail crop loans, farmers say the banks have not been cooperative,” Jawandia said.

As farmers have defaulted on their payments, they are being turned away by banks, he added. The
kharif season begins in a couple of weeks and the farmers are likely to get money in their hands only
sometime in October – November when the crop is harvested, he said. Farmers are not seeking loan waivers but rescheduling of old loan and fresh loans to start anew, he pointed out.

Although the centre has announced a Rs 20-lakh crore package, this contains nothing for the farmers. All that the government has done is granted a three-month moratorium for repayment of loans, he said.

Last week, the state government had asked district cooperative banks to provide crop loans to farmers who are yet to avail the benefits of the farm loan waiver scheme.