BHUBANESWAR: The cooperative credit structure of the state has disbursed over Rs 5,500 crore crop loans to over 10.85 lakh farmers by the third week of July. The state government has set a target of providing Rs 9,500 crore during Kharif-2023.
The percentage of achievement on loan disbursement is 58 per cent (pc) as against 60 pc during the corresponding period last year. The two per cent shortfall has been attributed to the delay in the arrival of monsoon which remained dormant for about two weeks and the month-long agitation by secretaries of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) in June over several service demands.
The central cooperative banks (CCBs) of Keonjhar and Angul districts are the worst performers with achievement of just 21 pc and 27 pc respectively. The other poor-performing CCBs are Ganjam (35 pc), Gajapati and Nabarangpur (36 pc each), Kandhamal (38 pc), Rayagada (40 pc) and Nayagarh (42 pc).
Registrar of Cooperative Societies and managing director of Odisha State Cooperative Bank UC Majhi took a review on the progress of crop loan disbursement on Monday. He has deputed two joint registrars of cooperative societies (JRCS) to Angul and Keonjhar to find the reasons for the abysmal performance of the two districts and take corrective measures.
Jajpur is the best-performing district with a disbursement of 82 pc followed by Malkangiri and Maryubhanj with 75 per cent each, and Kalahandi with 74 pc. Bargarh and Jharsuguda districts have recorded 71 pc of their lending targets. The state government has planned to cover 61.80 lakh hectare under Kharif crops this year and set a crop loan target of Rs 20,792 crore. Commercial banks operating in the state will take care of the balance loan need of the farmers.
The short-term cooperative credit structures, PACS at the ground level and CCBs at the district level, have been playing a pivotal role in providing crop loans in the state and their contribution is about 60 pc of the total loan requirement in the agriculture sector. The cooperatives had disbursed crop loans of Rs 8,710.78 crore to over 18 lakh farmers against the target of Rs 9,000 crore during the 2022 kharif season which was an all-time high.