Maharashtra: Allocation for farmer crop loan incentive scheme unlikely in Budget

Sources in the agriculture department said farmers may have to wait longer to avail the scheme announced by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government last year. Under the scheme – to be availed only by farmers who took crop loan from banks – farmers who repaid their loans in time would be rewarded with an incentive of Rs 50,000.

However, a year later, the scheme has remained on paper. A source in the government said, “Even by conservative estimates, the number of non-defaulting farmers would cross 10 lakh. If we were to provide Rs 50,000 to each, Rs 5,000 crore would be required.”

“Financial constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic makes one-time budgetary allocation for this scheme difficult. The enforcement of the scheme will be further delayed,” the source added.

In the last kharif season, the state had allocated crop loans worth Rs 60,860 crore to 69 lakh farmers. In all, there are 1.52 lakh farmers in Maharashtra. Agriculture Minister Dadasaheb Bhuse said, “Recurring cyclones, rain and hailstorms have compounded the challenges for both the government and the farmers. The government had to frequently intervene to extend relief and compensation to farmers for crop loss.”

However, farmer leaders questioned the government’s failure to fulfill the scheme. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief Raju Shetti said, “Loan waivers and incentives are populist schemes announced to score political brownies. But these schemes do not provide lasting solutions.” “The basic issue is why are farmers financially insecure? Nobody talks about this. If farmers get higher remuneration for their crops, it will help them financially. To achieve this, the government has to make Minimum Support Price (MSP) mandatory and its violation a punishable offence. Neither the Centre nor the state are interested in bringing an Act on MSP,” he added.