A plan to offer Rs 22,000 crore as interest-free agriculture loans has been developed by the state government for the year 2023–2024.
An official of the agriculture department said that under this scheme, 3.5 million farmers are expected to get benefits. The state government is expected to spend Rs 1,000 crores as interest subsidy. The loans will be offered by cooperative banks.
According to Cooperative Minister Udaylal Anjana, 2.971 million farmers received payments of Rs 19,740 crore in 2022–2023 as against to a target of Rs 20,000 crore. The minister stated that this was the fiscal year with the highest disbursement of interest-free agriculture loans.
In 2019–20, Rs 9,541.02 crore was spent, followed by Rs 15,325.38 crore in 2020–21, and Rs 18,101.68 crore in 2021–22, according to the minister.
It should be noted that in 2022–2023, loans of Rs 180 crore were given to 98,320 farmers for the kharif season and Rs 367 crore to 219,249 farmers for the rabi season. Around 317,569 farmers received 547 crore rupees in interest-free loans.
The state government is delaying the deadline for repaying the short-term crop loan for the Kharif 2022 season to June 30, 2023, or within a year of the loan's issuance date, whichever comes first. Farmers now have extra time to pay back their loans as a result. Prior to this, the last date for repayment was March 31, 2023.
Agriculture and its allied sectors contribute over 28 per cent to the state’s GSDP. More than 60% of those who are employed rely on agriculture for their living.
