One-time relief for indebted farmers likely

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the government was "seriously deliberating" on a one-time relief package for debt-ridden farmers throughout the country.

Speaking at the 65th general council meeting of the National Cooperative Development Corporation, Pawar said the total availability of agricultural credit had doubled in the last three years.

He also claimed that the agricultural marketing reforms had begun showing results and farmers were getting more opportunities to get higher prices.

The agriculture minister said the NCDC disbursed the highest-ever assistance of Rs 4,010 crore in 2006-07 for developing cooperatives in various sectors. This was 74 per cent higher than last year's disbursal.

The recovery of dues by the the NCDC also touched an impressive 99.7 per cent during the year, bringing down the non-productive assets to just 0.17 per cent of the outstanding loans. NCDC has been declared as a financial institution for the cooperative sector.

The minister also addressed the meeting of the parliamentary consultation committee attached to his ministry and revealed that Rs 929 crore had been released to states this year under the newly launched Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna.

The total budgetary provision for this scheme had been raised from original Rs 900 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in view of encouraging response from states, Pawar said.

The Rs 25,000-crore RKVY aims at encouraging state governments to increase the share of agriculture and allied sectors in their plans.

States had been given flexibility in planning and executing farm development projects under this scheme.

So far, 15 states had cleared projects worth nearly Rs 930 crore for development of agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and related activities.