Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy on Thursday released the State’s focus paper prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), in which the credit potential of the priority sector for the FY 2023-24 had been pegged at ₹2.86 lakh crore. The total agriculture credit potential stood at ₹1.82 lakh crore.
While releasing the paper at a credit seminar organised by the NABARD here, Mr. Govardhan Reddy said all the government departments and banks should make a collective effort to achieve the objectives of sustainable agriculture and capital formation in the sector.
He observed that meeting the credit needs of agriculture and allied sectors was important for promoting agricultural development, improving the farmers’ incomes and achieving food security. Also, he said access to credit would help in infrastructure augmentation and increased production. It would in turn lead to increased agricultural productivity, higher crop yield, and, ultimately, better livelihoods for farmers and the rural communities.
The Minister said Andhra Pradesh was the largest producer of fish and shrimps and the potential for development of the sector could be fully tapped by making value addition and promoting exports.
To capitalise on the marine reserves, the State government expedited the work on nine fishing harbours, he said, and called upon the banks to provide credit linkage to support activities like setting up of fish processing units and export promotion.
Mr. Govardhan Reddy appreciated the efforts of NABARD in promoting 400 and odd Farmer Producers Organisations, which emerged as sustainable business entities taking care of diverse needs of farmers/artisans.
Principal Secretary (Marketing and Cooperation) Chiranjeev Chowdary, Commissioner for Cooperation Babu. A, NABARD CGM M.R. Gopal, DGM D.S. Panicker, State Level Bankers Committee general manager Navneet Kumar, and AP Cooperative Bank Limited MD R. Shreenath Reddy were among those present
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