Agriculture credit diversion fuelled a string of farm suicides: Agri Secretary

Govt has raised the agriculture credit target for this fiscal by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 9 lakh crore

A record number of farmer suicides last year are a result of agriculture credit not reaching intended beneficiaries and loans with high interest rates from local money lenders, the Agriculture Secretary said Monday.

Addressing a national kharif conference, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Patnaik asked states to take steps to ensure agriculture credit reaches small and marginal farmers.

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The government has earmarked Rs 9 lakh crore for short-term agriculture loans for small and marginal farmers with an interest subvention scheme.

"In spite of so much money given for small and marginal farmers, credit is not flowing to this sector. As a result, this small and marginal farmers are knocking on the door of money lenders. As a result, we have seen the maximum number of suicides during the last year," Patnaik said.

"That shows the institutional credit mechanism is not working the way it should be working. This is something that we all should ponder and take measures so that agri credit is made use of by the vulnerable section."

With country facing two consecutive bad monsoons in the last two years, farmers are under stress and a number of suicide cases have been reported in various states.

As many as 3,228 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra last year, highest in the last 14 years, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had said last month in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The government has raised the agriculture credit target for this fiscal by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 9 lakh crore.

"Special focus has been given to ensure adequate and timely flow of credit to farmers. Against the target of Rs 8.5 lakh crore in 2015-16, the target for agricultural credit in 2016-17 will be an all-time high of Rs 9 lakh crore," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said in his Budget speech.

"To reduce the burden of loan repayment on farmers, a provision of Rs 15,000 crore has been made in the BE 2016-17 towards interest subvention," he had said.