Agri sector gets 6,759 crore

Hyderabad: In a major disappointment to debt-burdened farmers, Telangana government on Monday said it would write off Rs 8,500 crore loans taken by farmers from the bank in two installments over the next two years. Under the loan waiver scheme announced by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao after TRS came to power in 2014, government had waived off 50 per cent of the Rs 17,000-crore loans taken by farmers under bank credit scheme. The remaining 50 per cent has been pending due to financial constraints of the State government.

Announcing Rs 6,759 crore funds for agriculture and allied sectors during the presentation of Budget for 2016-17 in the Assembly on Monday, Finance Minister Eatela Rajender said that the third installment of loan waiver would be released in 2016-17. By 2017-18, 100 per cent loan waiver would be achieved.

“To address the credit needs of farmers, government is also taking proactive steps to ensure increase in the annual agricultural credit disbursal by banks,” he said. To meet the growing demand for fruits and vegetables, government has decided to establish Telangana State Horticulture Development Corporation and food processing units.

The corporation would promote cultivation of horticulture crops, procurement, processing and marketing. The corporation would also facilitate implementation of water saving technologies like micro irrigation. The Marketing department has taken up construction of godowns with storage capacity of 17.075 lakh metric tonnes at 330 locations at an estimated cost of Rs 1,024 crore.

To encourage modern farming practices under poly house cultivation, government would provide 100 per cent subsidy on loans taken by farmers belonging to SC and ST communities.