While farmers and farm leaders express concern over difficulties in accessing credit in the pre-sowing weeks, when agriculturists usually seek capital to make investments and purchase farm inputs, the state’s credit plan has set an agriculture sector lending target that is modestly more hopeful than the previous year. Officials say this is due to an apparent dip in demand for fresh credit.
While only 54 per cent of the target was achieved in 2018-19, the 2019-20 target for lending in agriculture has increased by 2.47 per cent from the previous year’s target. However, data shows that under the state’s annual credit plan, lending for the agriculture sector has dipped in comparison to 2016.