Chhattisgarh surpasses lending target to farm sector

Higher offtake due to expectation of better crop output than previous season, which suffered drought

Chhattisgarh’s loans to the fund-starved agriculture sector have surpassed the target set for the current kharif marketing season.

The state government had set a target to disburse short-term farm loans of Rs 2,800 crore in the kharif marketing season of 2016. “The target has been surpassed, as loans worth Rs 2,813 crore have been disbursed to farmers till now,” Ashok Bajaj, Chairman, Chhattisgarh Apex Bank, said.

In all, as many as 938,320 farmers have taken loans this season. The Chhattisgarh government has been providing interest-free short-term loans in cash and in material to farmers since 2014. Bajaj said that of the assistance disbursed this year, about Rs 1,926 crore was cash.

The state government was expecting an overwhelming output in crop production this year that was severely affected after the drought in the last kharif marketing season. The kharif crop area has been estimated to be 4.79 million hectares and has produced about 7.7 million tonnes of foodgrain.

Paddy is the major kharif crop in Chhattisgarh and the state government has been estimating an increase of as much as 61 per cent in its production. In the kharif marketing season of 2015, about 4.19 million tonnes of rice were produced in the state. The government is estimating 6.75 million tonnes in the current season.

According to officials, there was good loan offtake on the part of the farmers as the state had been expecting a good output this year. Last year, Chhattisgarh received about 13 per cent deficit rainfall and 117 blocks of 149 were officially declared drought-hit.