10 Lakh farmers taken crop loan not participated in paddy procurement, Govt ordered to convert the loans to commercial
Bhubaneswar, 16th Sept: Odisha government now seems to be in a fix as nearly 10 lakh farmers in Odisha, who had availed crop loans through cooperative societies last year, are now untraceable. Official sources said, as many as 19 lakh farmers had availed agricultural loans in the last Kharif season. Though 9 lakh had sold their paddy to the government, remaining 10 lakh farmers have not participated in the paddy procurement process, said State Co-operation Minister Surya Narayan Patro.
According to government data, nearly 9.77 lakh farmers, who registered during the last Kharif season, had sold paddy through registered societies. In a bid to curb misuse of loans, the government has now instructed officials to convert crop loans of 10 lakh beneficiaries who have not participated in the paddy procurement process into commercial loans and collect interest at the rate of 12 percent instead of 1 percent, which is appicable for the farmers taken crop loan.
However, the move of the co-operative ministery has not gone down well with several farmer organizations threatened to launch agitation against the fresh government directive. They are demanding loan waiver for the farmers. “The decision to convert the crop loans to commercial will be opposed strongly,” said Akshay Kumar, convener of Navnirman Krushak Sangathan. On the other hand, the decision of the Cooperation department is also likely to affect the ongoing registration drive for the paddy procurement program as so far only 5.32 lakh farmers have registered by September 13 as against 6.10 lakh farmers who registered during the same time last year, Officials said.
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