Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. It is providing direct and indirect employement to > 60 % of the people especially in rural areas. Growth in this sector plays a key role in the overall growth of the economy as many allied sectors are dependent on it. Sowing of the rabi crops has been hit by the crash cruch following demonetisation due to following reasons-
- No legal tender for the repayment of old loans and non availability of fresh loans due to dues
- Lack of money to buy inputs like seeds, fertilizers etc
- Non availability of cash for payment to labour and to hire agriculture equipments
It is now important to atleast protect the already sown crop by providing necessary credit to the farmers to carry on agricultural operations and helping them to go for alternative payment systems.
Steps to improve credit line to the farmers
- seeds, fertilizers and labour are major expenses to the farmer during sowing season. Implementing DBT scheme for fertilizers will help in transferring the amount to the farmers account which will help him in going for online payments
-Increased availability and accessabilty of POS machines at fertilizer and other input oulets
-Banking provisions like over draft facility, provision of working capital needed
-Increased availability of Kisan credit cards, Rupay cards to the farmers to facililitate them for making online payments
-providing input subsidy to the farmers
-Extended period for the repayment of old loans and arrangements for new loans at all banks and cooperative societies.
-Educating the farmers about the availability and usage of digital platforms through agriculture extension officers
- Arrangements for digital payments in agriculture market committees
Timely availabilty of credit to the farmers through digital means not only helps them to protect their crops but also encourages them to go for institutional credit thus protecting them from the clutches of money lenders and help them in increased awareness on cash less payments making them the part of digital economy