NABARD has played an important role in record purchase by disbursing about Rs 50 thousand crore rupees to the state marketing associations, said Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar on the occasion of Nabard’s 40th foundation day
Tomar said that it is extremely important to provide timely credit to small and marginal farmers. The government provided Kisan Credit Cards to PM-Kisan beneficiaries even during the Corona pandemic. In the budget of the current financial year, Rs.16 lakh crore lending target has been set up for the sector.
Tomar expressed satisfaction over the fact that NABARD has made available crop loans to farmers at concessional rates through cooperative and regional rural banks and in 7 years this amount reached to Rs.6.5 lakh crore.
He said the launch of ‘Operation Greens’ scheme and ‘Kisan Rail’ are also historic steps as the losses are being reduced by transporting fruits and vegetables from the fields to the consumer cities.
A scheme has also been launched to form 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), which will work on the model of collectivism. He expressed happiness that NABARD has been a pioneer in the implementation of this ambitious scheme.
NABARD, a participant in the scheme, has set a target to develop 35 thousand primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS) as ‘one-stop shops’. NABARD has sanctioned Rs. 1,700 crore to 3 thousand PACS for setting up multiple service centres.
Addressing the webinar, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramaniam said that there is a need for private investment to develop Indian agriculture and to promote innovations through investment. In this context, he mentioned that the new farm acts are very important for the development of small and marginal farmers.
NABARD Chairman Dr. G.R. Chintala said that there is a need to make appropriate investments in green infrastructure, which will be around Rs 18.37 lakh crore by the year 2024-25, out of which Rs.7.35 lakh crore will be kept for agricultural infrastructure.
Dr. Chintala said that the agricultural eco-system is changing, due to which the life of the farming community will become more convenient than before as farmers will be able to use information technology for farming systems, processing as well as export, which will increase their income.
He said that since the last several decades, NABARD has been striving for the upliftment of the agricultural and rural community through various measures. “Our commitment is to develop a system where small and marginal farmers, rural women and agricultural laborers can avail benefits of such institutions”, he added.