July 2020, South Asia 
COVID-19: Augmenting farmer access to long-term credit
Tanya Kak

The current novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has severely disrupted agricultural supply chains and pushed over half of our population, which relies on agriculture for their livelihood, into further uncertainty.

Several farmers have struggled to sell their produce from the rabi season and raise capital to prepare for the sowing season this month, adding to the existing debt crisis.

Failing to protect them during this critical juncture could worsen India’s agrarian distress. How, then, do we support our farmers with access to finance to ensure both their livelihoods and our food security?

In order to offer relief to the sector, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman extended Rs 20 lakh crore credit at a concessional interest rate to farmers. A Rs 30,000 crore emergency working capital fund for crop loans disbursed through rural cooperative banks and regional rural banks was also approved.

The implementation of these measures assumes an effective architecture in place to provide access to institutional credit to farmers who need it the most.