OSCB fails to achieve crop loan target

Business Standard, 3rd December, 2008

The Orissa State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) has failed to achieve its crop loan target during the kharif-2008 in the state.
The OSCB through its 17 Central Cooperative Banks (CCB) provided only Rs 546.29 crore crop loan to 4,65,251 farmers during this period, which is about 46 percent of the target fixed by the government.
The state government had set a target to disburse Rs 1200 crore crop loan in the cooperative sector during the Kharif 2008. The kharif agricultural season ended on September 30 last. The disbursement of crop loan during the kharif 2008 was the lowest in the last five years by the bank, the sources said. In the last kharif season, the OSCB through its CCBs had provided about Rs 889.24 crore to 7, 20, 510 farmers. In the 2006-07 season, Rs 837.47 crore crop loan was provided to 7.30 lakh farmers, while in 2005-06, Rs 764.35 crore was disbursed to 7.51 lakh farmers.
The CCBs could not achieve the target to finance the crop loan during this year because the farmers were not coming forward to take loans due to the Central government's announcement of debt waiver and relief scheme, the sources said. It may be noted that the Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) provides around 65-70 percent of the total crop loan disbursed in the state.
Regional Rural Banks (RRB) and Commercial Banks also sanction crop loans to the farmers. Despite not being able to achieve the kharif 2008 loan target, the OSCB has fixed the rabi 2008-09 loan target at a higher side and asked the CCBs to achieve it. The rabi target is fixed at Rs 1454 crore, the sources said.
In the last kharif season, while the Central Cooperative Bank at Aska achieved only 12 percent of cent of the target and lent Rs 7.24 crore to 6318 farmers, Berhampur CCB achieved only 19 percent of its target by financing Rs 13.82 crore to 12,552 farmers.
Boudh, Sambalpur, Bhawanipatna and Mayurbhanj CCBs, however, have achieved over 70 percent of the target, the sources said. While Sambalpur CCB has provided about Rs 87.76 crore to 47,490 farmers, the Boudh and Bhawanipatna CCBs have provided Rs 19.36 crore and Rs 22.15 crore respectively during the last kharif season.