Agriculture Finance : Nabard needs long-term funds for agriculture sector

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) needs long-term finance to ensure flow of adequate funds to cooperatives and boost capital formation in agriculture sector.

All-India Nabard Employees Association said that full-fledged funding of the National Rural Credit Long-Term Operations Fund and the National Rural Credit Stabilisation Fund are available options.

A delegation of the association met Jayant Sinha, Minister for State for Finance, in New Delhi recently and handed over a memorandum listing this demands. In the backdrop of growing agrarian crisis with its attendant problems of dispensation of institutional agri credit, there is need to build strong organic relationship between the RBI and Nabard as it existed earlier.

There is a serious need for India to invest more in adaptation and mitigation efforts, given the growing problems connected with climate change and its impact on agriculture.

Nabard is accredited as the first National Implementing Entity of the Green Climate Fund of the UN Framework Convention on Climate change.

As much as 28 per cent of Nabard’s cumulative disbursements have links with climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. “The need of the hour is a dedicated low cost Climate Change Management Fund under Nabard with adequate fund support from the Centre,” the memorandum said.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com