Nabard sanctions Rs 1077 cr for 3700 rural godowns in Odisha

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 1077 crore to Odisha for construction of more than 3700 rural godowns with a combined storage space of 9.23 lakh tonnes.

"In line with the priority of the state government in increasing the warehousing and storage capacity, to benefit the small and marginal farmers, Nabard has sanctioned Rs 1077 crore from its Warehouse Infrastructure Fund to the state government for constructing more than 3700 rural godowns. An estimated scientific storage space of 9.23 lakh tonnes is likely to be created on completion of these godowns, benefiting thousands of small farmers", said SK Kale, chief general manager, Nabard, Odisha regional office on the occasion of the bank's 34th foundation day.

He informed that the sanctions and disbursements under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in 2014-15 were in excess of Rs 2650 crore and Rs 1560 crore respectively, in the state. The sanctions under the RIDF to the state stood at about Rs 12000 crore cumulatively.

Highlighting the achievements of Nabard, he said, the total sanctions made during 2014-15, under various business vertical, had reached about Rs 10,000 crore and the disbursements crossed Rs 8,000 crore, a growth of nearly 35 per cent. The short term credit limit sanctioned by Nabard to the cooperatives and the regional rural banks (RRBs) in the state is pegged at Rs 5000 crore during 2014-15, helping these institutions support about five million farmers cumulatively, by March 2015, the bank official said. Speaking on the occasion chief secretary GC Pati urged the bank for appropriate policy measures for reducing the inequality in farm and non-farm sector. He stressed on expanding outreach of banks in rural areas to provide banking services in the remotest corner of the state.

Emphasising the need of agriculture credit, UN Behera, development commissioner said the CD (credit deposit) ratio of rural branches of scheduled banks in Odisha is around 35-36 per cent in contrast with Andhra Pradesh where the ratio hovers at 150 per cent.