Nagpur: In Yavatmal, the cotton belt of Vidarbha and a district infamous for agrarian crisis, nearly 1.25 lakh farmers have preferred not to repay their last year's crop loans. When bankers approach them, farmers argue that the state govt would soon announce a loan waiver, and there is no need to repay the debt. Even awareness campaigns to convince them have not helped, said sources in banks.
Bank officials say they are facing stiff resistance during recovery attempts. Farmers, supported by local leaders, are not even allowing recovery notices to be stuck on their premises. This has directly hit the disbursal of fresh crop loans. It's close to harvest time, and against a target of over Rs2,200 crore set for the current Kharif season, loans worth only Rs1,290 crore have been disbursed in the district. A fresh crop loan cannot be issued until the earlier loan is repaid, said sources involved in the compilation of farm loan data of all banks in the district. Normally, Yavatmal achieves as much as 90% of the target; however, a sharp dip has been seen this year.
Crop loans are short-term debt availed by farmers each year to meet their sowing expenses. The loans have to be repaid before the next sowing season. The Rs1,290 crore of loans disbursed this year cover over a lakh farmers.
However, an equal number of farmers have not repaid too. The value of last year's crop loan defaults alone comes to around Rs1,500 crore, said the source and added that a large number of farmers are hoping against hope to get a waiver.
The defaults come at a time when the open market rates of raw cotton, the district's staple crop, are expected to decline due to the removal of import duty on the commodity.
Manish Patil, chairman of Yavatmal District Central Cooperative Bank (YDCCB), confirmed large-scale defaults due to hopes of loan waiver. Patil said his bank's crop loan NPAs stand at Rs1,000 crore, which includes older loans too. A DCCB present in each district primarily deals in farm loans.
"Farmers are refusing to repay their loans, relying on the govt's promise of a waiver scheme. However, this has led to a grim situation," said Kishore Tiwari, the former director of Vasantrao Naik Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM), a state govt think-tank on farmers' crisis.
Nitin Khadse, a farmer from Jalka, a village in Yavatmal, also confirmed a large number of peasants have not repaid the bank loans. "It's not only due to hopes of a waiver; the poor rates of cotton and soyabean fetched last season have also left many cash-starved. Those who haven't been able to avail bank loans have approached private lenders," he said.
