Free fall of rupee, maintains Nabard chairman Prakash Bakshi, would not affect agriculture as farm loans are being provided at a negligible rate of interest.
There could be some impact on the prices of fertilizer and diesel but measures such as subsidy or a spike in minimum support price could counteract it remarked Bakshi while addressing pressmen in Chhattisgarh.
According to the Nabard chief, agricultural economy is facing crisis due to several factors. But through reducing small land holdings and checking the upward spiral of cost of farm production, agriculture could be lifted out of the doldrums. There are 140 million farmers who are working with tiny land holdings, he added.
Bakshi noted the concept of joint liability is being promoted to ensure easy loans and other facilities and modernization of cooperative banks being undertaken to enable them to rival big commercial banks in terms of delivering services.