Thousands of Pune-based farmers could benefit from the union budget proposal to extend the central governments 2008 debt waiver and relief scheme by another six months. The scheme gave farmers a 25 per cent relief if they could pay 75 per cent of the loan amount. Over the last two years,NABARD officials say around 55 per cent of the farmers have managed to repay their loan amounts. This is a significant increase from last year,when only 10 per cent of the farmers eligible under the waiver had managed to repay their loans. Banks have also been asked to not be very strict about the 75 per cent amount this has helped with improving the repayment figures. If a farmer is falling short of very little money,then banks waive off that small amount as well at their discretion but they will not be reimbursed by the government for that, said Venkateswara Rao,general manager,NABARD,Pune. In Pune districts DCCB and RRB banks,farmers eligible for loan had to repay around Rs 6.6 crore in 2008. There were mixed opinions on other aspects of the agriculture-related provisions made in the budget. Investment in irrigation,our most critical requirement,was completely ignored. Instead,the Finance Minister focused on cosmetic projects such as climate resistant agriculture,with funding that is a pittance relative to the problems at hand. Another important area left untouched in this Budget is agricultural R&D,including additional funds for ICAR and State Agricultural Universities, said Balram Yadav,MD, Godrej Agrovet.
