Orissa sets cooperative Kharif loan target at Rs 2,300 cr

Orissa government aims to lend Rs 2,300-crore through the cooperative sector in Kharif-2011. If achieved, this will be an all time record and 27 per cent higher than the achievement in the previous year’s Kharif.

The state had disbursed Rs 1,811.09 crore loan to 25,504 farmers in Kharif-2010. The disbursement of agricultural credit through the cooperative sector has seen steady rise from Rs 1,407.81 crore in Kharif 2009 and Rs 546.40 crore in Kharif 2008.

In the last Rabi season, Rs 1,558.02 crore crop loan was provided to 8, 91,377 farmers in the state. The achievement was 111 per cent of the target of Rs 1,400-crore loan earmarked for the cooperative sector.

The Rabi-2010-11 achievement included Rs 1,108.28 crore cash and Rs 449.74 crore in kinds, sources said.  In Rabi-2009-10, Rs 1,274.35-crore was disbursed to 8, 21,099 farmers in the state.

About 80 per cent of the total crop loan provided to the farmers in Orissa comes from the cooperative sector. Orissa State Cooperative Bank Limited (OSCBL), the apex cooperative bank, has chalked out plans to achieve the target through its down-linked organizations-Central Cooperative Banks (CCB) and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS).

“We have fixed the target for each CCB in the state to achieve the overall crop loan target”, said Tushar Kanti Panda, Managing Director, OSCBL. There are 17 CCBs functioning across the state.

The highest target of Rs 350-crore has been fixed for CCB, Balasore followed by Sambalpur (Rs 320-crore) and Cuttack (Rs 300-crore). In the previous Kharif season, the CCB Balasore had provided Rs 284.05-crore crop loan, where as Sambalpur and Cuttack had disbursed Rs 252.81 crore and Rs 229.49 crore respectively, sources said.

Similarly, CCB Aska and Keonjhar have been given the lowest target of Rs 70-crore each. In the previous year, while Aska CCB had lent Rs 45.36-crore crop loan, the achievement of Keonjhar CCB was Rs 55.32 crore.

Among other CCBs, Angul has been given a target of Rs 190-crore, Banki (Rs 90-crore), Berhampur ('95-crore), Bhawanipatna (Rs 80-crore), Bolangir ('110-crore), Boudh (Rs 75-crore), Khurda (Rs 100-crore), Koraput (Rs 100-crore), Mayurbhanj (Rs 85-crore), Nayagarh (Rs 75-crore), Sundargarh (Rs 110-crore) and Puri-Nimapara (Rs 80-crore).