Encouraging results of reduced rates of interest on agriculture loans could be seen in the villages of Chhattisgarh, as continuous increase has been recorded in the distribution of small term agriculture loans to the farmers in the primary credit cooperative societies of the State.
According to an official Press statement issued here, now, the farmers show interest in taking crop loans, because of the continuous slash in the interest rates. Officers of Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Bank (Apex Bank) said that in 2001-02, when the interest on agriculture loans was from 13 to 15 per cent, only 3.96 lakh farmers availed loan Rs 152.42 crore, but in the current Kharif season 2013, the interest rate is only 1 per cent. This has resulted into increase in the number of loanee farmers to about 9.50 lakh and the amount distributed is Rs 2,013 crore, which is Rs 362 crore more, in comparison to that of last year.
The officers said that with the reduction in the rate of interest on loans, crop production has also shown encouraging results. In 2012-13, 71.35 lakh metric tonne paddy has been procured on support price.