CHENNAI: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has prepared a focus paper for a State-level Rs.32,185-crore potential linked credit plan for the next financial year under the priority sector.

The estimated credit potential for crop loans amounts to Rs. 11,457 crore. For the non-farm sector, Rs. 8,573 crore has been projected, and Rs. 7,553 crore for other activities under the priority sector.

Emphasis is on development of investment credit in various agriculture sectors such as farm mechanism (Rs. 670 crore), plantation and horticulture (Rs. 659 crore), dairy development (Rs. 615 crore) and agro processing (Rs. 628 crore).

Initiating discussions on the focus paper at a seminar here on Wednesday, Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathy said banks had to find income-generating schemes for farmers, fishermen and handloom weavers, who constituted a bulk of the population. These sections lived on 14 per cent of the revenue generated in the State, while the service and manufacturing sectors had a major share of the revenue. This imbalance could be corrected by opening up avenues for them to earn more income.

He said as agriculture was a high-risk profession, farmers should have some other avocations to fall back when there was drought.

He wanted banks to adopt a pro-poor and pro-farmer approach to improving their lot.

Claiming that the State Government's two-acre land scheme for poor farmers was successful, Mr. Tripathy said the Government adopted a cluster approach, wherever possible, in which various agencies were involved.

The approach had yielded results. The Government had identified 300-400 clusters, where improvement works were going on, and there was need for identifying more.

In its release, NABARD said to boost farm credit and exploit the potential, several initiatives under the National Agricultural Policy and the National Horticulture Mission had been undertaken. Subsidy-linked schemes for post-harvest management, farm ponds, and irrigation systems had been designed to boost farm investment through bank credit.

Support was also being provided for rural infrastructure in the private and public sectors to provide farm connectivity.

Emphasis on value chain additions, through storage, processing and markets, would add to further business opportunities.

NABARD Chief General Manager K.V. Raghavulu said the aim of the seminar was to facilitate an interaction between government officials, development agencies and banks for evolving strategies to augment credit flow, accelerate capital formation and provide employment opportunities in priority sectors.

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