Take steps to boost rural credit: FM tells Nabard

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked Nabard to encourage farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water guzzling crops, especially millets, pulses and oilseeds.

In a review meeting of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), Sitharaman advised the agri-finance institution to work towards ensuring efficiency and outcomes at the ground level with improvement in rural income as the top priority.

With production and marketing of ‘Shree Anna’ a national priority in the ongoing International Year of Millets 2023, she also directed Nabard to encourage farmers to enhance the area covered under Millets, and to protect the returns of farmers who are already growing Also Read – IDBI Bank Q1 profit jumps 62% to Rs 1,224 crore millets.

“The Finance Minister emphasised on concerted efforts to sensitize farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water-guzzling crops, especially millets, pulses and oil seeds,” a Finance Ministry tweet said.