ITANAGAR, Oct 26: In a joint memorandum to the Chief Minister, the Arunachal Pradesh Unit of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Siang Farmer’s Federation and Organic Initiative Forum have appealed to him to instruct the concerned departments to write off pending bank loans (amount ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakhs) of state’s each farmer in various banks on the state.
The said organizations, which had also organized a peaceful rally at Aalo on Wednesday last seeking cancellation of pending agricultural bank loans, informed that most of the state’s farmers are already over burdened with outstanding bank loan liabilities in agriculture and horticulture after obtaining bank loans from various financial institutions in connection with farming activities.
‘Due to hostile climatic condition of the state, production is affected and farmers get lower prices for their crops, and therefore, are unable to repay the bank loan amount. Moreover, lack of scientific knowledge in agriculture and horticulture as well as lack of infrastructural backup like cold storage, perishable items are not kept or stored and products are sold at low rates resulting in losses, the organizations claimed.
The organizations have further urged the state government to organize awareness camps for scientific method of farming in their doorstep to mitigate farmers’ issues.
