Wayanad ryots left out of loan scheme

Times of India: Kozhikode: Tuesday, 16 September 2014.

The government's flagship programme in the agricultural credit sector to provide interest-free loans to small and marginal farmers has drawn a naught in the state's most agrarian crisis-hit district of Wayanad, with cooperative banks failing to disburse any such loans in the last fiscal.

Documents obtained through the RTI Act from the state government show that farmers of Wayanad have failed to get even a single rupee under the scheme while interest-free loans worth Rs 115 crore were disbursed across the state in 2013-'14.

Farmer organisations say the figures reflect the attitude of banks and the government in addressing the agricultural crisis in the district, which had witnessed nearly 2,000 farmer suicides in 13 years. "The scheme for providing interest-free loans was drawn up partly as a response to the acute agrarian crisis in Wayanad. It is unfortunate that the district is left out of the scheme," said M Surendran, district president of farmer organisation Harita Sena.

He said 34 farmers had committed suicide in the district in 2012-'13 alone and many of them were victims of illegal moneylending, which had gained deep roots in the district. "The primary cooperatives are not providing agricultural loans due to non-availability of funds from Nabard."

District cooperative bank general manager P Gopakumar said only those who repay the loan amount in a year is given full interest subsidy under the scheme. The government refunds 4% interest subsidy to cooperatives and Nabard the remaining 3%, making the loan interest-free. "The moratorium on repayment of loans in Wayanad could be why farmers are not getting benefits of the scheme," he said.

Gopakumar said banks were also finding it difficult to refinance the existing loans due to the moratorium. "The primary cooperative societies are still providing interest subsidies to deserving farmers," he said.

District cooperative bank president P V Balachandran said he had urged the government to provide low-cost funds to cooperative banks. "The district cooperative bank had earmarked Rs 90 crore for agricultural loans, with Rs 60 crore from banks' own funds and Rs 30 crore from the state cooperative bank, in 2013-'14. Using own funds, sourced from deposits, for disbursing agricultural loans could hit the banks hard," he said.