Shivraj Chouhan: Overhaul Rural Credit for Farmers

New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday called for overhauling the rural credit system, saying that despite the Kisan Credit Card scheme, obtaining a bank loan remains an ordeal for farmers who must navigate layers of paperwork, patwaris, and tehsil offices for getting a loan sanctioned.

Speaking at a panel on agriculture during Civil Services Day, Chouhan said the current system fails the very people it is meant to serve.

"The farmer is not a beggar -- he comes to the system with his rights, needs, and respect," he said, cautioning that officials in positions of power often lose sight of this.

Sharing a familiar picture of rural banking distress, the minister said farmers walk 8 to 10 kilometres to a branch, only to return home with work undone, defeated by long queues and understaffed counters.


With direct benefit transfers -- from MNREGA wages to PM Kisan instalments -- flooding rural accounts, the pressure on limited bank staff has become untenable, he said, calling for a serious reassessment of rural banking manpower.

Chouhan also flagged the uneven promise of technology. During wheat procurement, satellite-based verification created fresh hurdles for farmers rather than easing them -- a reminder, he said, that digitalisation must account for ground realities, an official statement said.

On integrated farming, the minister argued that a small or marginal farmer with one to two-and-a-half acres simply cannot survive on grain alone. Diversifying into horticulture, animal husbandry, fish farming, or beekeeping requires capital -- capital that most lack and that subsidies alone cannot provide.

He also backed warehouse receipt loans as a tool to protect farmers from distress selling, but said the scheme needs to be made genuinely accessible. Citing the case of a farmer whose Rs 18 lakh loan ballooned to Rs 40 lakh, he urged banks to explore one-time settlements as a practical fix.

Addressing civil servants, Chouhan called for introspection and out-of-the-box thinking -- and asked them to look beyond NPA statistics toward the human cost behind the numbers.