4 Import-Replacing Crops
Banks reluctant to disbursing loan to farmers
Banks disbursed only 4 per cent loan of their annual target to farmers involved in cultivating four types of import-replacing crops — pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize — in over first four months of the financial year 2014-2015 as they were reluctant to distribute the credit due to lower rate of interest.
The BB set a disbursement target of Tk 95.21 crore for the crops for the FY15 for all scheduled banks, but the banks disbursed only Tk 3.92 crore, or 4.12 per cent of the annual target in between July 1 and November 6.
The cultivation seasons of the four crops start in October and November, but the banks are yet to speed up their credit programme, BB officials told New Age on Wednesday.
The government set the interest rate at 4 per cent on special agricultural credit to be disbursed for cultivation of pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize.
The government gives subsidy to banks at 6 per cent interest rate so that they can get 10 per cent interest in total when they disburse loan to the farmers at 4 per cent rate.
According to the latest BB data, 34 banks including all foreign commercial banks and nine new banks did not disburse any loan for cultivation of the four types of crops in the first five months of the FY 15.
The banks, which did not disburse any loan, are: AB Bank, BASIC Bank, BRAC Bank, Mercantile Bank, National Bank, NCC Bank, ONE Bank, Premier Bank, Prime Bank, Pubali Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Southeast Bank, Standard Bank, The City Bank, Trust Bank, United Commercial Bank, Bank Al-Falah, Citibank NA, Habib Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India, Woori Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, National Bank of Pakistan, The Farmers Bank, Meghna Bank, Midland Bank, Modhumoti Bank, NRB Commercial Bank, NRB Global Bank, NRB Bank, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank and Union Bank.
The country usually imports huge amount of pulses, oil seeds, spices and maize to meet local demand. The loan is being given to discourage import of the items and reduce annual import payment, a BB official told New Age.
He said the central bank had frequently asked the banks to stimulate their credit programme for the four crops, but they did not make respond much to the BB’s direction.
The official said the banks continued to show a reluctant attitude to disburse the loan as they usually earned comparatively less profit by distributing the loan to the marginal farmers.
Besides, the banks are showing more interest in disbursing the loan to their near and dear ones bypassing the real farmers, he said.
The banks should take initiative to disburse more for the four types of crops in the greater interest of the country’s economy, the official said.
In the four months of the FY15, the four state-owned banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — and two specialised banks — Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank — disbursed Tk 2.60 crore or 3.41 per cent of their annual target of Tk 76.43 crore in loans for the crops.
The private commercial banks disbursed Tk 1.31 crore of their annual target of Tk 13.70 crore in the period.
Between July and November 6 of the FY15, the banks disbursed Tk 8 lakh to cultivate pulses, Tk 15 lakh to cultivate oil seeds, Tk 3.16 crore to cultivate spices and Tk 52.50 lakh to cultivate maize, the BB data showed.
It is a frustrating scenario that the banks are yet to take significant initiative to speed up their credit programme for the four crops despite the fact that the cultivation seasons of the crops have started, another BB official said.
The cultivation season of pulses is in between October 15 and November 9, that of oilseeds in between October1 and November 30, that of spices in between November 1 and December 31 and that of maize in between October 1 and November 14.
-With New Age input
