Farm credit disbursals hit 95 per cent of target by February

Banks and co-operative institutions have disbursed Rs308,320 crore in credit to farmers across the country till February 2010. This represents 95 per cent of the target of Rs325,000 crore set for 2009-10 and the government expects banks to have reached 100 per cent target by end-March 2010.

Of the total, farm credit, cooperative banks have disbursed Rs45, 000 crore till February 2010, against the target of Rs52,282 crore, a government release said today.
 
Commercial banks exceeded the target by providing Rs2,50, 000 crore in farm credit till February against the target of Rs2,26,045 crore.

Regional rural banks (RRBs) also exceeded target by providing Rs30,000 crore in farm credit till February 2010 against the set target of Rs29,993 crore.

The total disbursement thus works out to Rs3,25, 000 crore against the set target of February 2010 of Rs3,08,320 crore, the release said.
 
The government has set the target of agriculture credit flow for 2010-11 at Rs3,75, 000 crore.

Flow of credit to the agriculture sector since 2003-04 has consistently exceeded the target. It has increased from Rs86, 981 crore in 2003-04 to Rs3, 01, 908 crore in 2008-09, the release noted.

Similarly, as part of initiative taken by ministry of agriculture to provide Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to all the eligible and willing farmers in a time bound manner, 90.6 million KCCs have been issued up to February 2010.  The centre has asked state governments to launch an intensive branch/village level campaign to popularise KCC among farmers.