Ranchi: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has assessed a credit flow potential of Rs 28,643.64 crore for the upcoming 2021-22 fiscal under different priority sectors to enhance farmers income in Jharkhand. The figure was announced at the daylong State Credit Seminar 2021-22 held at a city hotel on Thursday.
The sectors identified for a push in the coming fiscal included agriculture, MSME, education, housing, social infrastructure, renewable energy among others.
Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Hemant Soren asked banks to be more forthcoming with their spending to facilitating loans to farmers and people of the state for their progress.
“In 2020-21, around Rs 2,033 crore was approved as loans to 65,000 farmers, but there is a need for more disbursement to help poor and marginal farmers get access to financial resources to pursue agriculture. In West Bengal, which has almost an identical geography as this state, Rs 7,000 crore was given as loan. I think leading banks, which do good business in this state, should also focus on spending their profits for betterment of the people of this state,” he said, asking different stakeholders to work with synergy along with the state government for overall betterment of the state.
Citing how every sector suffered stagnation in the last one year due to the pandemic, Hemant said 2021 should be a year for renewed approach. “We should think out of the box to boost not just the ailing sectors, but also improve lives of the people here,” he said.
Those present during the seminar included Sanjiv Dayal, officer in-charge, Reserve Bank of India, Rajendra Man Pandey, G M,SLBC, controllers of banks, representatives from various research and voluntary organisations etc.
A K Padhi, chief general manager, Nabard Jharkhand highlighted the works done by them in the state and said that their focus for 2021-22 is, “Collectivisation of agricultural produce for enhancing farmers’ income”.
“The Union government has set a target to double farmers’ income by 2022. Due to highly fragmented, scattered and heterogeneous landholdings, rising cost of cultivation, inadequate market infrastructure, increasing risks due to climate change, limited access of farmers to public resources, modern technologies and affordable credit, agriculture has gradually become less profitable for most farmers. A sustainable solution lies in collectivization of agricultural produce, value addition and collective marketing through organising farmers into Farmer Producers’ Organisation (FPO),” he said.
“There is tremendous potential for formation and nurturing of new FPOs to encourage collectivization for increasing the income of farmers and boosting the overall growth of rural economy of the state,” he said.