Farmers to be given loans at low interest rate

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Co-operative sector in Kerala would provide Rs 1,000 crore as loans to ten lakh agricultural workers at 4 per cent interest, state Cooperation Minister G Sudhakaran said on Wednesday.

It was for the first time in the country a state was giving loans at the interest rate prescribed by the National Agricultural Commission, he said replying to the debate on the demands for grants for Co-operation in the assembly today.

Major professional educational institutions under the cooperative sector would be set up in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Kannur and Kasaragod districts, the Minister said. More courses would be started under the Co-operative Academy of Professional Courses (CAPE).

In the health sector, co-operative clinical laboratories would be set up in all taluk hospitals and primary health centres in the state. The facility would be free for people coming under BPL category.

In his reply to the discussion on demands for grants for his department, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Rathnakaran said Kuttanad, Palakkad and Thrissur areas would be declared as protected areas for paddy cultivation.

Extra benefits would be provided to paddy farmers in these areas, including interest-free loans. Steps would be taken to sell paddy procured from the region under a brand name. A scheme would be introduced to help the families of 63 farmers who had committed suicide last year in Pulpally in Wayanad district, Rathnakaran said.

Five-acre model farms would be set up in 600 panchayats in the state to promote coconut farming involving 15-member cluster groups of farmers, he said.