Telangana government totally in support of farmers in accessing farm loans

Hyderabad: State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy dismissed that farmers in the State are in despair due to lack of availability of agriculture loans. Addressing media here on Tuesday, he said that the State government has stood with farmers during the Covid crisis and provided Rs 7,251 crore under Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) despite, the state exchequer facing a loss of Rs 50,000 in revenues. That apart, it has also procured agriculture produce with about Rs 30,000 crore.

He said that the State government has been working hard to strengthen the agriculture sector. In turn, it will help other sectors to be stable and strong. Niranjan Reddy said till recently farmers in the State have cultivated crops in an extent of 1.10 crore acres of land. When it comes to agriculture loans, he said that the State government had waived the agriculture loans of 2.87 lakh farmers to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore in one go.

Giving details of the agriculture loans extended from the banks, he said out of 41,31,004 farmers, 20 per cent have taken agriculture loans from the cooperative banks and the remaining from the commercial banks.

As per the State Level Bankers (SLB) meeting held on July 6, the banks have set a target of extending agriculture loans to the tune of Rs 31,936 crore for the rainy agriculture season. Till August 4, the banks have extended Rs 11,093 crore loans, which is higher than the extent of loans extend till the end of July 2019, he added. Similarly, during the current year, the cooperative banks have extended Rs 1,516 crore which is higher than the previous year.