Agri Ministry gives nod to subsidised loans worth Rs 3,971.31 crore for micro-irrigation projects

The Union Agriculture Ministry has given nod for subsidised loans worth Rs 3,971.31 crore for implementing micro-irrigation projects, and a maximum loan of Rs. 1357.93 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu.  

The interest subvented loans are being offered under Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for implementing micro-irrigation projects. 

Micro Irrigation Fund with a corpus of Rs. 5000 crores created with NABARD was operationalised in 2019-20. Steering Committee of MIF has approved projects for a loan of Rs.  3971.31 crore comprising Rs. 764.13 crore for Gujarat, Rs. 1357.93 crore for Tamil Nadu, Rs. 616.13 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 276.55 crore for West Bengal, Rs.790.94 crore for Haryana Rs. 150.00 crore for Punjab and Rs. 15.63 crore for Uttarakhand.  

However, NABARD has so far released a loan of Rs 659.70 crore to Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Thereby a total amount of Rs. 1754.60 crore has been released so far, comprising Rs.  616.13 crore to   Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 937.47 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs. 21.57 crore to Haryana and Rs. 179.43 crore to Gujarat. 

Under the MIF, subsidised loans are provided for not only taking up special and innovative projects but also for incentivising micro-irrigation beyond the provisions available under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Per Drop More Crop) to encourage farmers to install micro-irrigation systems. 

Har Khet ko Pani is basically “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana” and therefore the Government of India is committed to accord high priority to water conservation and its management. To this effect, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko Pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop' in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities. 

Source: PIB