Jammu, Mar 24: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday unveiled Rs 34,829 crore potential linked credit plan of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for the union territory, officials said.
Sinha said that the credit plan will meet aspirations of the rural population, bridge gaps in rural infrastructure and strengthen co-operative credit systems to transform the agricultural economy.
The credit plan was announced at a seminar organized by NABARD in Jammu for presenting the focus paper 2022-23 for J&K, covering physical and financial potential under agriculture and allied activities and other priority sectors including the off-farm sector activities in the union territory.
Speaking on the occasion, the LG, according to an official press release, underlined the need to focus on the development of rural economy for unlocking its full potential by filling the gaps vis-à-vis infrastructure, human resources and financing.
NABARD has been a vital driver of the rural economy by meeting the basic needs of infrastructure under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, where 4,178 projects have been completed in the last 26 years at a cost of Rs 8,457 crores, focusing mainly on irrigation and rural connectivity, the officials said.
Highlighting that Agriculture & Allied sector sustains over 70 percent of population, the LG also announced that NABARD and J&K’s Agriculture Department have jointly planned a development package of Rs 25,991 crore to improve agricultural inputs, farmers’ income through easy availability of credit, technical up-gradation of agriculture and entire agriculture & horticulture production chain.
The LG noted that this comprehensive plan was in line with the vision of the Prime Minister to double the farmers’ income.
“In J&K, 36 Farmer Producer Organizations have been formed by NABARD which are benefiting about 6,000 farmers and 26 more such organizations will be formed in this financial year, decisively advancing the development of a strong base of modern agriculture and horticulture in the UT,” he added.
The LG expressed hope that NABARD will work closely with the UT administration in bringing self-reliance and efficiency in the agriculture and allied sectors.
He noted that this year, the UT’s Agriculture department is distributing new, high yield variety of seeds to about 9 lakh farmers, besides targeting to link more than 33,000 farmers with farm mechanization.
