The State Government made available more than 19.36 lakh Kisan Credit Cards to provide short-term loans to farmers. The short-term loans are made available as per the land acreage of the farmers. The Agriculture Department officials said that Rs2,437.81 crore short-term loans were provided to the farmers in the fiscal 2014-15. Seeds, fertilizers and cash are given in the short-term loans.
Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal called upon the Kisan Credit Card -holder farmers to contact the Co-Operative societies for short-term loans as soon as possible. The societies are providing seeds, fertilizers and cash as short-term loans to the farmers. The facilities help the farmers to complete the farming operations of Kharif season on time.
The officers of the Department said that the State Government had reduced the interest rates on loans to farmers since 2004-05 and many farmers are taking loans on short-term. The interest was 14 to 16 per cent on loans to farmers in 2003-2004.
The State Government has reduced the interest over a period of time. The farmers are obtaining loans at zero per cent at present.
The Officers said that the farmers obtaining Kisan Credit Cards have increased manifold due to rapid fall in interest rates. There were 55,994 farmers had Kisan Credit Cards in the year 200-01 but now more than 19.36 lakh farmers had Credit cards in 2014-15.