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Jagran correspondent, Patna. Bihar government has taken an important initiative with the aim of providing agricultural loans to farmers at affordable rates and encouraging them towards modern farming. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Agriculture Department and NABARD to provide one percent additional interest subsidy on agricultural loans for the financial year 2025–26.
Agriculture Minister Ram Kripal Yadav said that the one percent additional interest subsidy given by the state government will provide relief to the farmers. The partnership between the state government and NABARD will provide cheap and accessible agricultural loans to the farmers, which will motivate them to adopt modern agricultural techniques.
Under the agreement, in addition to the three percent interest subsidy being given by the Government of India on agricultural loans, the Bihar government will provide one percent interest subsidy from the state scheme item. Under this, farmers will get the benefit of one percent interest subsidy on agricultural production loans up to Rs 3 lakh through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) from commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
The benefit of the scheme will be available only to those farmers who will repay the loan within the prescribed period. On behalf of NABARD, Deputy General Manager Bhola Prasad Singh, Assistant General Manager Vijay Kumar and Assistant Manager Satvik Satyakam Devta signed the agreement. On this occasion, NABARD Chief General Manager Gautam Kumar Singh and NABARD Manager Sumeet Sering were also present.
Farmers will be able to invest more in essential agricultural activities
The Agriculture Minister said that this initiative will reduce the loan interest burden on farmers, will increase access to institutional credit and will give a new impetus to investment, production and increase in farmers' income in the agriculture sector. Farmers will be able to invest more in essential agricultural activities like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation.
The MoU was signed by Agriculture Director Saurabh Suman Yadav, Joint Director (Statistics) Sushil Kumar and Assistant Director (Statistics) Washid Iqbal on behalf of the Agriculture Department. At the same time, NABARD has been designated the nodal agency for effective implementation of the scheme.
An amount of Rs five crore will be provided by the state government under this one percent interest subsidy scheme for the financial year 2025–26. It is expected that this scheme will provide cheap loans to the farmers of Bihar and strengthen the agricultural economy of the state.