17-Aug-2022: Cabinet approves Interest subvention of 1.5% per annum on Short Term Agriculture Loan upto Rupees Three lakh

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved to restore Interest Subvention on short term agriculture loans to 1.5% for all financial institutions. Thus, Interest Subvention of 1.5% will be provided to lending institutions (Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Bank, Small Finance Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks and Computerized PACS directly ceded with commercial banks) for the financial year 2022-23 to 2024-25 for lending short term agri-loans upto Rs 3 lakh to the farmers.

This increase in Interest Subvention support requires additional budgetary provisions of Rs 34,856 crore for the period of 2022-23 to 2024-25 under the scheme.

Benefits:

Increase in Interest Subvention will ensure sustainability of credit flow in the agriculture sector as well as ensure financial health and viability of the lending institutions especially Regional Rural Banks & Cooperative Banks, ensuring adequate agriculture credit in rural economy.

Banks will be able to absorb increase in cost of funds and will be encouraged to grant loans to farmers for short term agriculture requirements and enable more farmers to get the benefit of agriculture credit.  This will also lead to generation of employment since short term Agri-loans are provided for all activities including Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Poultry, fisheries.

Farmers will continue to avail short term agriculture credit at interest rate of 4% per annum while repaying the loan in time.

Background:

Ensuring hassle-free credit availability at cheaper rate to farmers has been the top priority of Government of India. Accordingly, Kisan Credit Card scheme was introduced for farmers, to empower them to purchase agriculture products and services on credit at any time. To ensure that the farmers have to pay a minimal interest rate to the bank, the Government of India introduced Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS), now renamed as Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), to provide short term credit to farmers at subsidized interest rates.

Under this scheme, short term agriculture loan upto Rs. 3.00 lakh is available to farmers engaged in Agriculture and other allied activities including Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Poultry, fisheries etc. at the rate of 7% p.a. An additional 3% subvention (Prompt Repayment Incentive - PRI) is also given to the farmers for prompt and timely repayment of loans. Therefore, if a farmer repays his loan on time, he gets credit at the rate of 4% p.a. For enabling this facility to the farmers, Government of India provides Interest Subvention (IS) to the Financial Institutions offering this scheme.  This support is 100% funded by the Centre, it is also the second largest scheme of DA&FW as per budget outlay and coverage of beneficiaries. 

Recently, under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, over 3.13 Crore farmers have been issued new Kisan Credit Card (KCC) against the target of 2.5 Crore. Special initiatives such as the KCC Saturation Drive for farmers enrolled under PM-KISAN scheme have also simplified the process and documentation involved for getting the KCC sanctioned.

Keeping in view the changing economic scenario, especially increase in the interest rate and lending rates for the financial institutions especially Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks, The Government has reviewed the rate of Interest subvention provided to these Financial Institutions. It is expected that this will ensure adequate credit flow in agriculture sector to the farmer as well as ensure financial health of lending institutions.

To address this challenge, Government of India has proactively decided to restore Interest Subvention on short term agriculture loans to 1.5% for all financial institutions.

8-Jul-2022: Shri Parshottam Rupala attends meeting chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman to review the progress in issuance of KCC to poor farmers

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala attended a meeting chaired by the Union Minister of Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman to review the progress in issuance of KCC to poor farmers from Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries Sector with Banks & RRBs.

Shri Parshottam Rupala, in the meeting held yesterday, suggested a few measures for compliance by the Banks viz., all Banks must follow the Guidelines of KCC properly, the due acknowledgment for KCC application should be given to the applicants and a timeline decision on the application should be fixed. He added that the reasons for rejection should be clearly indicated so that field officers could rectify and re-submit the forms. The Minister suggested that KCC should be given to people from Maldhari (Ghumantu) Community, who do not stay in one place and have no collateral security to offer. He further said that KCC should be given to poor fishermen who are unable to give any collateral. The Minister said that these efforts should aim at accelerating the efforts of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in full saturation of KCC in the country.

Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pankaj Choudhary, Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary of Fisheries, Shri Jatindra Nath Swain and Secretary for Department of Financial Services, Shri Sanjay Malhotra were also present.

The Government of India in the Budget-2018-19 announced the extension of the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them to meet their working capital needs. The KCC facility will help fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to meet their short-term credit requirements of rearing of animals, poultry birds, fish, shrimp, other aquatic organisms and capture of fish.

Department of Fisheries is trying to explore the possibility of extending KCC to the fishermen who are not covered at present such as those who do not own/lease boat or assets etc. States/ UTs is advised by the DoF to regularly monitor the progress of saturation of eligible fishers and fish farmers under KCC and follow up action must be taken with the concerned banks for removing shortcomings and ensure early sanction of KCC.

Facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) has been extended to Animal Husbandry farmers in 2018-19. This ensures short term credit for meeting their requirements for working capital - feeding, veterinary aid, labour, water and electricity supply etc. A Special Drive was organized from 1st June to 31st December 2020 by this Department for providing KCC to eligible dairy farmers of Milk Cooperatives & Milk Producer Companies. Before this drive only around 30,000 KCC were sanctioned to Animal Husbandry and Dairying. During this period more than 50 lakh applications were sourced, out of which 18.81 lakh fresh KCC were sanctioned.

The department of AHD in association with SIDBI has developed an online portal for AHDF

KCC. The portal is almost ready for launch. This portal will facilitate online submission, processing and monitoring. Banks are requested to facilitate API integration with their banking system for this portal which will enable real time monitoring.

5-Apr-2022: KCC For Dairy Farmers

The average milk procurement price paid to farmers for milk with 6% fat and 9% solids not fat (SNF) in Cooperative Sector has increased from Rs. 37.38 per kg in February 2021 to Rs.39.93 per kg in February 2022 indicating a stable market.

As per the information available from the Cooperative Dairy Sector, the price of SMP increased from Rs. 274.11per kg in February 2021 to Rs. 285.44 per kg in February 2022 thereby indicating an increase in demand in last one year. As per APEDA, the export of SMP has increased substantially from 935.41 MT during 2019-20 to 13,457.11 MT during 2020-21 and further to 36,668.19 MT during 2021-22 (April -2021 to January-2022).

Government of India organized a Special drive for providing KCC to eligible dairy farmers associated with milk cooperatives and milk producer companies during 01.06.2020 to 31.12.2020. The total number of 14,80,355 KCC have been sanctioned (as on 25.03.2022) to dairy farmers amounting to Rs.10,974 crore.

24-Mar-2022: Parliamentary Consultative Committee discusses Kisan Credit Card Scheme for better implementation

A meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare was held on 23rd March, 2022. The Committee discussed various aspects of the Kisan Credit Card Scheme for improvement and better implementation.

Addressing the committee, Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government is running a campaign for saturation of KCC to farmers to cover all leftover PM KISAN beneficiaries. He said that all the administrative charges up to Rs. 3 lakh of short term loans i.e. processing fee, inspection fee, ledger, folio charges etc. have been waived off so that maximum number of farmers can get the loan at a cheaper rate through the Interest Subvention Scheme.

The Minister also told the Committee members that the form for KCC has been simplified and directions have been sent to banks to issue KCC within 14 days of receipt of the complete application form. As a result of sustained and concerted efforts by banks and other stakeholders in the direction of providing access to concessional credit to farmers, a major milestone has been achieved by covering around 2.94 crore farmers under the KCC scheme with the sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 3.22 lakh crore as on 4th March, 2022, the Minister added.

A presentation on details of KCC scheme was given by Joint Secretary Shri Ritesh Chauhan.

The committee members raised their concerns and gave suggestions for further improvement of the scheme. Shri Tomar thanked the committee members for their valuable suggestions and assured them that the Ministry will look into each suggestion and will come out with favourable solutions for the betterment of farmers. He also requested members to put their efforts into creating awareness about KCC among the farmer community in their respective constituencies.

About Kisan Credit Card: Kisan Credit Card was introduced in 1998 to provide short term loans to farmers to purchase agriculture inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. Presently, KCC loans are available to farmers engaged in crop husbandry, Animal Husbandry and other allied activities for both the short term and long term. The maximum limit for a short term agriculture loan is up to 1 year and for a long term loan normally 5 years. Banks at their discretion may extend the tenure. The government of India is implementing an Interest Subvention Scheme for short term crop loans through KCC, under which, short term loans up to Rs. 3 lakhs are given to the farmers at concessional rate of 7% and additional 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) makes the effective rate of interest at 4%.

22-Mar-2022: Kisan credit card scheme

The Reserve Bank of India has issued Master Circular on Kisan Credit Card Scheme vide circular FIDD.CO.FSD.BC.No.6/05.05.010/2018-19 dated July 04,2018. The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers individual/joint borrowers who are owner cultivators, tenant farmers, oral lessees & share croppers, Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) of farmers including tenant farmers, share croppers etc. for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:

1. To meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops;
2. Post-harvest expenses;
3. Produce marketing loan;
4. Consumption requirements of farmer household;
5. Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture;
6. Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities.

Further, Reserve Bank of India vide circular FIDD.CO.FSD. BC.12/05.05.010/2018-19 dated February 04, 2019 has extended KCC facility to farmers engaged in Animal Husbandry and Fisheries for their working capital requirements.

Government of India is also implementing Interest Subvention Scheme under which interest subvention (IS) of 2% and Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) of 3% is given to farmers on Short Term Agri Loan upto 3 lakh which makes the effective rate of interest on such loans at 4%.

The following steps have been taken to bring the maximum number of farmers under KCC in order to provide easy access to concessional institutional credit and simplify the process to avail KCC:-

1. All the charges including processing fee, inspection, ledger folio charges, service charges for loans upto Rs.3.00 lakh were waived off.
2. Collateral free loan limit for short term Agri-credit has been raised from Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.1.60 lakh by RBI.
3. State Governments have been advised to hold bank-wise and village wise camps to collect KCC application forms from eligible farmers and the applications collected therein to be submitted to the Bank’s branch.
4. KCC is to be issued within 14 days from the receipt of completed application.
5. A simple one-page special application form was also designed and shared with banks.
6. The KCC has been extended to the farmers doing allied activities including Animal Husbandry, dairying and fisheries.

From February, 2020 Government of India is running KCC Saturation drive in collaboration with DFS and other stakeholders in order to increase coverage under Kisan Credit Card Scheme. As a result, 2.92 crore KCC has been issued with sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 3.20 lakh crore as on 25th February, 2022.

The Government of India also implements the Interest Subvention Scheme with a view to provide short term Agri-loans to the farmers at concessional rate of interest. Under the scheme, short term crop loan upto Rs. 3.00 lakh is available to farmers engaged in Agriculture and other allied activities at benchmark rate of 9%. Government of India provides 2% Interest Subvention on the benchmark rate. Additional 3% subvention is also given to the farmers for prompt and timely repayment of loans; thus the effective rate of interest comes down to 4% per annum.

24-Dec-2021: Department of Fisheries organizes Webinar on “Nation- Wide Campaign on Kisan Credit Card (KCC) for Fisheries Sector”

Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India organized a webinar on “Nation- Wide Campaign on Kisan Credit Card (KCC) for Fisheries Sector” on 23nd December, 2021 as a part of  “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” on the occasion of special week earmarked for the Department of Fisheries from 20.12. 2021 to 26.12.2021. The event was presided over by Shri Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of India (GOI) and attended by more than 400 participants including officials of Department of Fisheries, GoI and fisheries officials of different States/UTs, faculties from State agriculture, veterinary and fisheries universities, various national and co-operative banks, entrepreneurs, scientists, farmers, hatchery owners, students and stakeholders from aquaculture industry across the country.

In his inaugural address, Union Secretary Fisheries, Shri Swain highlighted background and diversity of fisheries sector and added that the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) in fisheries sector is an attempt to help the fishers and farmers to meet their working capital needs aiming at providing adequate and timely credit support to all the farmers. Further, Mr. Swain added that a Nation-wide campaign is currently being organized from 15th November 2021 to 15th February 2022 to ensure the covering of all the stakeholders. Mr. Swain also requested the States/UTs authorities to regularly monitor the progress of saturation of eligible fishers and fish farmers under KCC and take follow up action with the concerned banks for removing shortcomings and ensure early sanction of KCCs.

Shri Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary (Inland Fisheries) delivered the opening remarks. Shri Mehra stated that the Department of Fisheries, Government of India has been involved in taking ground breaking and continuous efforts to encourage and expand aquaculture and fisheries in both inland and marine sectors in India and extension of KCC facility aim to expand the access to institutional credit facility to achieve socio-economic transformation of the lives of fish farmers and fishermen. Further, Shri Mehra discussed about the ongoing nation-wide campaign to saturate the eligible beneficiaries in association with Department of Financial Services and Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying along with State Departments and Banks.

During the technical session, Mr. Suresh Kumar K, General Manager, NABARD, Mumbai made a comprehensive presentation on the mandates, forms of credit, priority sectors, and investments in fisheries sector component, eligibility for KCC, application procedure of KCC for fisheries, scale of finance, details of the process of KCC, interests and subventions.

After the presentation, an open discussion was held with the fish farmers, fishermen, State/ UT fisheries departments, banks, co-operative societies, entrepreneurs, hatchery owners, students and scientists which was led by Mr. Sagar Mehra. Participants raised the issues like financial support for KCC, nodal point of contact for KCC, online portal for KCC procedure, maximum interest on fisheries KCC and other similar issues and their queries were answered and clarified then and there. After discussion, the webinar concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Dr. S. K. Dwivedi, Assistant Commissioner, DoF.

15-Nov-2021: Nationwide AHDF KCC campaign launched for providing Kisan Credit Card facility to all eligible Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fishery Farmers

As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Nationwide AHDF KCC campaign officially launched by  FAHD Minister Shri Parshottam Rupala today through virtual mode.

In order to expand the benefit of Kisan Credit Card to all eligible animal husbandry, dairy and fishery farmers in the country, this department, in association with the Department of Fisheries (DOF) and the Department of Financial Services (DFS), is organizing a “Nationwide AHDF KCC Campaign” from 15th November 2021 to 15th February 2022. The circular conveying the detailed guidelines for organizing this campaign has been issued to States on 10.11.2021.The necessary instructions to banks as well as State Government have also been issued by D/o Financial Services.

Livestock sector is crucial to the Indian economy today, comprising one third of the agriculture and allied sector GVA and having over 8% CAGR. At the same time, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries activities play a significant role in generating farmer income, particularly among the landless, small and marginal farmers and women, besides providing cheap and nutritious food to millions of people. It is need of the hour to provide reverential recognition to landless, small and marginal farmers and women involved in Animal Husbandry activities in the country and meet their institutional credit requirement for working capital needs through KCC so as to tap the potential of the sector and increase employment generation and income.

A Special Drive was organized last year, from 1st June 2020 to 31st December 2020, by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying in association with Department of Financial Services, for providing AHDF KCC to eligible dairy farmers of Milk Cooperatives and Milk Producer Companies. As an outcome over 14 lakh fresh AHDF KCC has been sanctioned. However, since there are nearly 10 crore AHD farmers across the country, there is ample scope for expansion of this exercise beyond dairy cooperatives to cover other eligible dairy farmers as well as other animal husbandry activities.

14-Nov-2021: Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala to Launch a “Nationwide AHDF KCC Campaign” Tomorrow

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala will launch a "Nationwide AHDF KCC Campaign" on November 15, 2021 (Monday) at 3 pmat Conference Room No. 243 in hybrid mode. The Campaign aims to expand the benefits of Kisan Credit Card to all eligible animal husbandry and fishery farmers in the country.

Union Ministers of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Dr. L. Murugan and Secretaries of DAHD,DFS and DoF will also remain present on this occasion.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), in association with the Department of Fisheries (DoF) and the Department of Financial Services (DFS), is going to organize this "Nationwide AHDF KCC Campaign" from November 15, 2021 to February 15, 2022.

Under this Campaign, the target for this Department is to cover all eligible farmers who are involved in various Animal Husbandry activities like rearing of bovines, goat, pig, poultry and other allied activities.

The Campaign will attempt to saturate all eligible dairy farmers associated with milk unions/MPCs who have not yet been covered in the earlier campaign.

27-Jul-2021: KCC for Animal Husbandry

The Reserve Bank of India vide circular FIDD.CO.FSD. BC.12/05.05.010/2018-19 dated February 04, 2019 has extended KCC facility to Animal Husbandry farmers and Fisheries for their working capital requirements wherein farmers either individual or joint borrower, Joint Liability Groups or Self Help Groups including tenant farmers having owned /rented/leased sheds are eligible for getting benefits under the scheme. The loan limit is arrived at based on the Scale of Finance (SoF) methodology. The Scale of Finance is fixed by the State Level Technical Committee (SLTC) in consultation with District Level Technical Committee (DLTC) based on local cost worked out on the basis of per acre/per unit/per animal/per bird etc. Further, Reserve Bank of India vide circular FIDD.CO.FSD.BC.No.10/05.02.001/2019-20 dated August 26,2019 has extended the benefits of Interest Subvention at 2% and Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) at 3% to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers (upto a maximum limit of Rs. 2 lakhs) to meet their working capital needs under the KCC scheme. The scheme is continuing for the year 2020-21.

Total 6,63,055 farmers engaged in Animal Husbandry and Fisheries were provided Kisan Credit Card as on March,2021. As reported by Reserve Bank of India, State/UT-wise details of operative KCC accounts and amount outstanding in Animal Husbandry and Fisheries as on March, 2021 is furnished.

Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing following schemes to promote animal husbandry and fisheries being taken up by traditional farmers.

1. Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG) under National Livestock Mission (NLM)
2. Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)
3. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)

In order to support and promote cooperatives, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing following schemes;

1. National Programme for Dairy Development(NPDD)
2. Dairy Processing Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)
3. Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations engaged in dairy activities (SDCFPO)
4. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

9-Feb-2021: 187.03 Kisan Credit Cards with credit limit of Rs 1.76 lakh crore sanctioned to farmers as on 29th January 2021

A special drive to cover farmers under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is going on since February 2020. As per the information furnished by Public Sector Banks & NABARD, 187.03 lakh KCC with credit limit of Rs 1.76 lakh crore have been sanctioned to farmers across the country during this drive upto 29th January 2021.

In order to ensure that all eligible farmers are provided with hassle-free and timely credit for their agricultural operations, the Government had introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme to enable the farmers to purchase agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc. The KCC Scheme has been simplified further w.e.f. 2012, which has the provision of ATM enabled debit card with, inter alia, facilities of one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit, any number of withdrawals within the limit, etc.

The total number of KCC issued in the country as reported by RBI (Scheduled Commercial Banks) & NABARD (Cooperative Banks & RRB) during last three years are given at Annexure-I & Annexure-II respectively.

20-Aug-2020: 1.22 crore Kisan Credit Cards sanctioned with credit limit of Rs. 1,02,065 crore under the special saturation drive

In an effort to buffer the agricultural sector from the shock of COVID-19, a special saturation drive is underway to provide concessional credit to farmers through Kisan Credit Card (KCC). As on 17.08.2020, 1.22 crore KCCs have been sanctioned with credit limit of Rs. 1,02,065  crore. This will go a long way in reviving the rural economy and accelerating agricultural growth.

It may be recalled that as part of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package, the Government had announced provision of a concessional credit of Rs. 2 lakh crore which is likely to benefit  2.5 crore farmers, including fishermen and dairy farmers.

11-Feb-2020: Kisan Credit Card(KCC) Saturation drive for PM-KISAN beneficiaries started from 10th February 2020 and will be carried out for a period of 15 days

To enable universal access to Concessional Institutional credit, Government of India has initiated a drive in Mission Mode for saturating all PM-KISAN beneficiaries with Kisan Credit Card (KCC). This will help all such farmers to get short term loan for crop & animal/fish rearing at a maximum interest of 4% on timely repayment.

This drive has started from 10th February, 2020 and will be carried out for a period of 15 days. Detailed instructions in this regard have been issued to all the State/UT Govts, MDs of all banks and Chairman NABARD, detailing the procedure to be followed for coverage of PM-KISAN beneficiaries under KCC.

State/UT Governments and banks have been advised to prepare a list of all PM-KISAN beneficiaries who do not have KCC and approach them through line departments of the State/UT Government including Departments of Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Panchayat & Rural Development and Panchayat Secretaries. Bank Sakhis under the NRLM scheme would also be used for motivating PM KISAN beneficiaries to visit the concerned bank branches for the purpose.

As the KCC along with benefit of Interest Subvention has now been extended to animal husbandry and fisheries farmers also, State/UT Governments have also been requested to focus on such farmers and facilitate sanction of additional credit limit/issue fresh KCC to them.

To ensure ease of application the following steps have been taken -

1. A simple one page form has been developed such that the basic data would be obtained from the bank’s record under PM KISAN and only a copy of the land record along with details of crop sown would need to be filled in.
2. The one page form shall be available along with an advertisement being published in all leading newspapers across the country and the same can be cut and filled by the beneficiaries.
3. The form can also be downloaded from websites of all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) as well as website of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India (www.agricoop.gov.in) and PM-KISAN portal (www.pmkisan.gov.in).
4. Common Service Centres (CSC) have also been authorised to fill up the form and transmit the same to the concerned bank branches.

All banks have been advised to have separate counters for handling such applications and ensure issue of fresh KCC; or, enhancement of the existing KCC limit; or, activation of inoperative KCC account within the shortest possible time not exceeding 14 days from date of submission of application.

Progress of this drive will be monitored on a daily basis by the State/UT Govt. Activities under Saturation drive in a district would be led by the District Collector with full support of the Lead District Manager and DDM, NABARD.

In addition to the KCC, with a view to provide social security to the PM KISAN beneficiaries, eligible farmers will also be enrolled for the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana (PMJJBY), after obtaining their consent.  These schemes provide accident insurance and life insurance, at a premium of Rs.12/- and Rs.330/- respectively for an insured value of Rs.2 lakh in each case.

2-Jul-2019: Credit Cards for Fishermen

The Government of India has extended the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them meet their working capital needs. The KCC facility will help fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to meet their short term credit requirements of rearing of animals, poultry birds, fish, shrimp, other aquatic organisms and capture of fish.

Under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) facility, for the existing KCC holders the credit limit is Rs. 3 lakh including animal husbandry and fisheries activities whereas the KCC holders for animal husbandry and fisheries have the credit limit of Rs. 2 lakh to meet their working capital requirements for animal husbandry and fisheries activities. Under KCC facility, Interest subvention is available for animal husbandry and fisheries farmers @ 2% per annum at the time of disbursal of loan and additional interest subvention @ 3 % per annum in case of prompt repayment as Prompt Repayment Incentive.

The criteria for eligible beneficiaries under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries is as follows:.

1. Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture:

1. Fishers, Fish Farmers (individual & groups/partners/share croppers/tenant farmers), Self Help Groups, Joint Liability Groups and Woman groups.
2. The beneficiaries must own or lease any of the fisheries related activities such as pond, tank, open water bodies, raceway, hatchery, rearing unit, possess necessary license for fish farming and fishing related activities, and any other State specific fisheries and allied activities.

2. Marine Fisheries: Beneficiaries as listed at 1.1 above who own or lease registered fishing vessel, boat, possess necessary fishing license/permission for fishing in estuary and sea, fish farming/ mariculture activities in estuaries and open sea and any other State specific fisheries and allied activities
3. Poultry and small ruminant: Farmers, poultry farmers either individuals or joint borrower, Joint Liability Groups or Self Help Groups including tenant farmers of sheep/goats/pigs/poultry/birds/rabbit and having owned/rented/leased sheds.
4. Dairy: Farmers and Dairy farmers either individuals or joint borrower, Joint Liability Groups or Self Help Groups including tenant farmers having owned/rented/leased sheds.

4-Feb-2019: Indian Banking Association issues advisory guidelines requesting banks to waive off processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for Kisan Credit Card/crop loans upto 3 Lakhs

In yet another move to provide direct benefit to farmers and ease the pressure on them, the Indian Banking Association issued advisory guidelines requesting banks to waive off the processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for Kisan Credit Card /crop loans upto 3 Lakhs.

In India, Land Holding pattern is dominated by Small and Marginal farmers (SMF) category Roughly 85 per cent of the total operational holding in the country (about 43 percent of the gross cropped area) are in the SMF category. There are around 21.6 crore small and marginal farmers (or 4.3 crore families). Providing timely and affordable credit to this resource constrained group is the key to attaining inclusive growth. The small and Marginal farmers are the most affected during times of floods, droughts, and other natural calamities. As per parliamentary standing committee on Agriculture the losses due to climate change account for overall GDP loss of 1.5% of agriculture economy. The instability in income of the farmers due to various types of risks involved in production, low bargaining power, etc., add more distress to the already affected farmers.

The Kisan Credit Card Scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers to meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops, investment credit requirements for agriculture and allied activities and other needs.

In this context, it was learnt that some of scheduled commercial banks are collecting a nominal amount of service charges towards processing, documentation, inspection, etc. for agriculture loans. However, some of the banks are collecting service charges which are at a bit higher. This is not irrespective of whether the loan is sanctioned or not. This often acts as a deterrent for the farmers to approach the banks for loans.

5-Jan-2018: Schemes for Farmer’s Welfare

Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme meets the financial requirements of farmers at various stages of farming. The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:

• To meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops;
• Post-harvest expenses;
• Produce marketing loan;
• Consumption requirements of farmer household;
• Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture;
• Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities.

The KCC scheme also provides the facility of ATM enabled RuPay Card, one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit and any number of drawals within the limit.

The farmers eligible under the KCC scheme include small farmers, marginal farmers, share croppers, oral lessee and tenant farmers. The Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) are also eligible for availing benefits under the said scheme.

8-Aug-2022: Union Agriculture Minister lays the foundation stone for Indo-Israel Center of Excellence for Vegetables through video conferencing

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, laid the foundation stone of the Indo-Israel Center of Excellence for Vegetables in Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh) through video conferencing. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Tomar said that the Central and State Governments are working together all-round to upgrade Agriculture. “It is necessary for the educated youth to be oriented towards this in order to move forward the Agriculture sector more rapidly in the future,” he said.

Shri Tomar expressed happiness that under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, progress is being made in various sectors, including Agriculture, in Uttar Pradesh and the State is also contributing better in the development of the country. He also expressed happiness that the schemes of the Central Government are being implemented in Uttar Pradesh and the State has also made rapid strides in organic and natural farming. Expressing hope, the Union Agriculture Minister said that UP, in the coming times, will achieve a new dimension in the field of Agriculture. The way UP has been leading the way in the fields of cultural heritage and scientific knowledge, in the same way it will take the country further in the development of agriculture, he said.

Shri Tomar said that today is a historic day for the Chandauli region. “A new dimension is being added on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. This Center is the result of the efforts of the State Government. Its establishment will play an important role in the development of the district. Also, it will prove to be a revolutionary step in the field of Agriculture in the adjoining districts and districts of Bihar border also. Many new opportunities will be created for progress through Agriculture. Farmers will be able to get better yields by using the latest methods of farming,” he said.

Shri Tomar said that Agriculture should move forward continuously and the quality of production should be at par with the global standards. “In this direction, technology application has to move forward. To attract future generations towards farming, Agriculture has to be rejuvenated. We all need to work seriously on moving towards remunerative crops, use of technology, Digital Agriculture Mission, taking advantage of FPOs and adopting natural and organic farming. Together we will move towards fulfilling our priority and obligations,” he said.

Shri Tomar hoped the establishment of the Indo-Israel Center of Excellence for Vegetables will play an important role in the development of Chandauli district as well as Purvanchal region. “Here seeds and plants of improved vegetables will be cultivated and distributed to the farmers. Farmers can also sponsor the development of plants for themselves. Farmers will get a lot of benefit in increasing the production of vegetables. By using the latest methods of farming, farmers will be able to get better yield and also export vegetables. Nursery of other agricultural produce including vegetables will be prepared at this Center of excellence to promote the Agriculture sector globally. This will not only benefit the farmers here, but will help the district be known globally in the field of vegetables and agriculture,” he said.

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said it is the intention of the Government that the leading district in the production of paddy and wheat can also emerge better in vegetable production as well. “The climate of Chandauli district, which is known as the rice bowl of UP, is suitable for setting up the Center of Excellence for Vegetables. There are 9 agro-climatic zones in the State which are favourable for the cultivation of various horticultural crops throughout the year. Seedling production of tomato, pepper, brinjal, Chilli, cucumber, tomato, pepper, brinjal, Chilli and exotic vegetables is proposed to be done in the hi-tech climate controlled greenhouse to be set up in the Center of Excellence for Vegetables, while cultivation of cucumber, cauliflowers, baby corn, sweet corn and exotic vegetables is proposed in the open field. Along with micro-irrigation in the open, a trial demonstration of farming with fertigation and chemigation systems will be done. There will also be a demonstration of installation of seepage, sprinkler irrigation and other plastic culture applications,” he said.

The foundation stone laying programme was also addressed by Chandauli MP and Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Shri Mahendra Nath Pandey, UP Agriculture Minister Shri Surya Pratap Shahi, Minister of State for Horticulture, Shri Dinesh Pratap Singh and other public representatives.

The technology for the Center is provided by Israeli experts under the India-Israel Action Plan (IIAP) with funds for building infrastructure for demonstration purposes from MIDH. Centers of Excellence (CoEs) are being set up in the States based on Israeli technologies. These Centers of Excellence act as demonstration and training centers for the latest technologies in the field of Horticulture. They also serve as a source of planting material for fruits and vegetables in protected cultivation.