The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has put an ambitious projection for priority sector lending in Jharkhand of Rs17,565.04 crore for the year 2015-16. The target is up by 14.85 per cent from the previous year target of Rs15,293.59 crore.
The bank, mandated to promote priority sector of the economy such as agriculture and allied activities, micro small enterprises, non-farm sectors including food and agro process etc, has at the same time identified areas which can push the actual loan needs and consumptions.
Facts with State level Bankers’ Committee (SlBC) suggest that during the year 2013-14 against the targeted Rs15,468.84 crore, actual achievement remained meager Rs9,905 crore or just 64 per cent of the goal.
Presenting the projections for the upcoming financial year through its ‘State Focus Paper-2015-16’ on Wednesday NABARD also stressed upon active participation of the large section of the society through world’s largest financial inclusion programme—Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMGDY).
On the occasion Jharkhand Agriculture Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni emphasised on achievement in real terms, not target. “Scaling up the achievement is what matters. Keeping in mind the realities in Jharkhand, I can see a lot of scope in credit consumption if tertiary sector of the State can be based on agriculture. If we look at credit flow, about 60 per cent of it goes to tertiary sector and just 26-odd per cent lending to primary sector. Why the tertiary sector in the State should be based only upon mining, quarrying and industrial activities and not on farm related activities like food processing, agri marketing, warehouses and storage facility for fruits and vegetables,” said Kulkarni on the release.
GSDP of the State measured at Rs 1,62,557 crore in 2012-13 in which share of primary sector was 26.33 per cent while secondary and tertiary sectors contribute 29.97 per cent and 43.70 per cent, respectively. The share of agriculture sector in total GSDP stood at merely 12.47 per cent.
Kulkarni also indicated towards great need of post-harvest management in the State, especially for perishable items grown in good amount in the rural hinterlands. “Post-harvest is a big issue before the Government. Currently we have about 2.5 metric tonne of capacity which is less in comparison of the demand,” he said and expressed hope that in the days to come new initiatives of the Center such as soil health cards, small irrigation projects would provide the desired fillip to the sector which at the same time would improve the scope for credit consumption.
Chief General Manager of NABARD KC Panda underlined the need to carve out 35-40 producer organisations and facilitated to consume farm produce in bulk. “Need of agriculture entrepreneurship is great in Jharkhand so that items generated at village level can be consumed with good return to the farmers. But at the same time, we have issues in hand like lack of irrigation facilities which pull down demand and proper consumption of the farm credit,” said Panda.
The Focus Paper is prepared after grass root level consultation and a survey made and has coined rural infrastructure development on PPP mode. Series of ‘Krishi Clinics’, milk processing plants, small power projects, industrial parks, tourism hubs etc have been identified in the State as enablers for picking up the primary sector credit.