In a bid to promote ‘per drop more crop’(PDMC) under the Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (PMKSY) to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems- sprinkler and drip irrigation, the Ministry of Agriculture has given nod for subsidised loans worth Rs 3,971.31 crore for implementing the projects. The maximum loan has been approved for Tamil Nadu, followed by Haryana and Gujarat.
In a statement, the ministry said the steering committee of MIF has approved projects for loan worth Rs 3,971.31 crore. The interest subvented loans are being offered under Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for implementing micro-irrigation projects.
Out of this, maximum loan of Rs 1,357.93 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu, followed by Rs 790.94 crore for Haryana, Rs 764.13 crore for Gujarat, Rs 616.13 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 276.55 crore for West Bengal, Rs 150 crore for Punjab and Rs 15.63 crore for Uttarakhand, it said.
However, NABARD has so far released a total loan amount of Rs 1,754.60 crore to the States. Of this, about Rs 659.70 crore has been released to Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. About Rs 616.13 crore loan has been released to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 937.47 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 21.57 crore to Haryana and Rs 179.43 crore to Gujarat so far, it added.
This fund with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore was operationalised in the 2019-20 fiscal year with an objective to facilitate States in availing subsidised loans for expanding coverage of micro irrigation.
Under the MIF, subsidised loans are provided for not only taking up special and innovative projects but also for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PDMC) to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems.
During the last five years (2015-16 to 2019-20), an area of 46.96 lakh ha has been covered under Micro Irrigation through PMKSY-PDMC.