Institutional Finance in Socio-economic Development of Small Farmers

Agriculture is one of the important sectors in the Indian economy. Agricultural credit is one of the essential requirements for the growth of agricultural production and productivity. The assessment of agriculture credit situation brings out the fact that the credit delivery to the agriculture sector continues to be inadequate. It appears that the banking system is still hesitant on various grounds to purvey credit to small farmers. The situation calls for concerted efforts to augment the flow of credit to agriculture and exploring new innovations in product design and methods of delivery, through better use of technology and related processes. The agriculture credit plays a vital role in the overall socio-economic development of small farmers. The study shows that till today, some of the farmers are depended on money lenders for agricultural credit. There is a need to strengthen the institutional credit for agriculture and allied activities and need based agricultural credit system should be provided to small farmers.