Kerala initiates campaign for agriculture credit guarantee scheme as it falls behind utilising fund

Thiruvananthapuram: When the credit guarantee scheme formulated by the Union government for the basic facilities in the agricultural sector completed one and a half years of its operations, only Rs 47 crore has been dispensed in Kerala under the programme. Rs 2,520 crore was set aside for Kerala till 2025- 26. Within this, the state has obtained approval to distribute Rs 82 crore via 87 programmes. It has been found that the lack of campaigns to inform the farmers about the loan availing programme has resulted in a shortage of applications. In view of this, the state government has decided to initiate campaigns for the programme.

The scheme assures a loan of up to Rs 2 crore for generating infrastructure and crop storage facilities in the agricultural sector. The Central government will ensure a guarantee and the banks can charge interest of only nine per cent. Of this, three per cent of the interest will be paid by the Centre. The loan has to be repaid within 7 years. The farmers can avail loan from only commercial-rural banks and Kerala Bank.

Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are the states performing well in the credit guarantee scheme launched in 2020. Out of the Rs 1 lakh crore decided to distribute, only Rs 5000 crore has been allocated to date.

A team from the Centre will arrive in Kerala on June 24 to analyse the progress of the scheme here.

Farmers can register in the portal https//agriifra.dac.gov.in for availing the credit.  

For more information, contact: 

6235277042- Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam

7010994083- Idukki, Ernakulam 

8075480273- Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram

8921785327- Wayanad, Kozhikode

8547565214- Kannur, Kasaragod