ID cards for crop loans to all tenant farmers: I& PR Min

Minister for Housing and Information & Public Relations, Kolusu Parthasarathy, has announced that all tenant farmers in the State will be issued identity cards to facilitate crop loans, irrespective of the landowner’s consent.
Addressing a district-level bankers’ meeting here on Thursday, the Minister highlighted that tenant farmers make up 80 per cent of the farming sector; however, only one per cent of these farmers currently receive crop loans.
“The annual allocation for the priority sector is ?16,000 crore, with ?240 crore designated for tenant farmers. Yet, only Rs 101 crore has been disbursed,” the Minister lamented.
He noted that the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had imposed a condition requiring landowners to consent to the issuance of identity cards for tenant farmers, creating a technical obstacle for bankers in extending loans.
“Steps are being taken to issue identity cards to tenant farmers regardless of landowners’ consent. We are ensuring that landowners do not face any difficulties. Bankers will extend loans to tenant farmers based on these identity cards,” the Minister asserted, adding that the process will be completed by the next rabi season.
He emphasised that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is committed to extending loans to all tenant farmers.
Due to the previous YSRCP government’s indifference, many tenant farmers had to borrow large sums from private moneylenders at high interest rates, as they were unable to secure loans from banks. During the 2014-19 period, the then-TDP-led government issued over 1.8 million identity cards to tenant farmers, whereas the YSRCP government issued only 800,000 cards in five years, the Minister noted with regret.
Minister Parthasarathy stated that Rs 3,223 crore in loans had been disbursed in the first quarter of the current financial year, against a target of Rs 16,600 crore. He also mentioned that loans for tobacco farmers in the district range from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh per barren.
The Minister revealed that the State Bankers’ Committee has been instructed to accept agricultural land without clauses such as Nala as security for extending loans in the agriculture sector.
He added that bankers are providing loans to artisans through the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana scheme and urged authorities to work diligently to ensure artisans receive the necessary loans. In addition to public sector banks, private banks are also encouraged to offer MUDRA loans to small traders with a sense of social responsibility. District Collector K Vetri Selvi and MLA B Radhakrishnaiah were present at the meeting.