Rajouri: DLTF discusses fixation of Finance Scales for agriculture allied sector activities

Rajouri: District Level Task Force (DLTF) meeting was today held here under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, Mohammad Nazir Sheikh to discuss the fixation of Scales of Finance for the year 2020-21 for agricultural and allied activities in the district.
The meeting was attended by Chief Planning Officer, Shama-Un-Ahmed; Chief Animal Husbandry Officer, Mohd Younis; Chief Agriculture Officer, Vijay Kumar; Chief Horticulture Officer, Madan Lal; District Sheep Husbandry Officer, Dr Sarfraz Naseem Chowdhary; Lead District Manager, Sunil Sharma; DDM NABARD, Kannav Sharma; Assistant Director Fisheries and representatives from SBI and JKGB.
A threadbare discussion was held with respect to criteria to be adopted for fixation of scales of finance for agricultural and allied activities in the district
The DDM NABARD said that it is for the first time the process of Fixation of Scales of Finance is being carried out at the District level. “Earlier the fixation of the scale of Finance was carried out at Province level,” he said and highlighted the need for the new practice.
The Chief Agriculture Officer said the Scale of Finance may be defined as is the finance required for raising a crop per unit cultivated area, i.e. acre or hectare. He said the scale of Finance may vary from district to district. He also said allied Agricultural activities related to poultry, sheep breeding, dairy farming etc have also been brought within the ambit of the DLTC for fixing of the scales of finance for such activities.
The Deputy Commissioner, while speaking in the meeting, said that the fixation of finance for the agricultural allied activities shall help the farmers of the district to take advantage of various types of free credit in a hassle-free manner. He also said that the fixation of finance shall also create employment opportunities in the district through agricultural entrepreneur activities.
He said the objective of this meeting is to review the unit cost of previous year scale of finance and for the fixation of the unit cost of Scale of Finance for the year 2020-21. He stressed upon the need to involve all stakeholders in arriving at proper scales of finance and necessity of accurate field data. He urged upon them for close coordination so that credit flow to the farmers is adequate and timely.
The Deputy Commissioner said that there is a dire need for the fixation of finance for agricultural allied activities due to increase in input costs. He directed the concerned officers to submit the revised proposal at the earliest.