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| NABARD asks banks to lend more to farmers in Punjab, Haryana |
| Press Trust of India / Chandigarh Aug 13, 2009, 16:08 IST |
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Expressing concern over the rising cost of cultivation of farmers in Punjab and Haryana because of erratic monsoon during Kharif season 2009-10, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) today asked all the banks including commercial, cooperative in these states to lend more to farmers in order to compensate their increasing input cost.
"We know farmers in Punjab and Haryana have spent huge amount of money (on diesel) for watering their crops specially paddy in this season due to scanty rains ... That has raised their input cost considerably... Banks should assess the additional credit requirement of the farmers in this region so as to take care of their extra expenditure of such nature," NABARD, Chief General Manager, J R Sarangal told reporters here today.
Asserting that farmers should be helped in this crisis like situation, he said that banks should come forward and identify those farmers to meet their additional credit requirements. "Banks should identify their cost of cultivation... If their expenses have surged by Rs. 2000 per acre then they should be lent more so that they can bear the same," he said.
He emphasised that Regional Rural Banks (RRB) could play a vital role in disbursing additional advances to them. "RRBs have surplus funds lying with them and they can contribute more in this situation," he said.
Sarangal said that during the current season, cooperative banks advanced Rs. 2700 crore to farmers in Punjab and Rs. 1800 crore in Haryana to meet their credit requirements.
The deficient rains along with severe power shortage in north is likely to hike the cost of cultivation of paddy in Punjab and Haryana by at least 6 to 9 per cent in the current Kharif season which would further make a serious dent on the earnings of paddy growers.
The scanty rains in north west region has also hit the crop sowing in Haryana as state observed dip in area under cultivation of principal crops including paddy, bajra and sugarcane although Punjab recovered from this situation. In this season, Haryana has observed 61 per cent less rainfall than normal while Punjab witnessed 26 per cent decline.
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