The Nasarawa State Government has launched the agricultural loan component of the Bada Koshi Agriculture

Scheme in Lafia.
 
Performing the ceremony in Lafia, the Governor, Aliyu Akwe Doma, said the launching was in fulfillment of the
pledge he made earlier on to support farmers with necessary infrastructures and incentives, including loan guarantee.
 
According to the Governor, in fulfillment of this pledge, the State Government is acquiring 107 tractors, as well as
obtaining aN1billion loan facility for the farmers. He stated that the aim is to maximise food sufficiency, create
employment opportunities, reduce poverty and create wealth.
 
The ceremony which witnessed a large gathering is coming after the launching of the Bada Koshi Agricultural
Scheme in Nasarawa State and the Yam export programme in the United Kingdom.
 
Under the first phase of the scheme, a total of 456 farmers and farmer groups across the State, will benefit from a
loan of N530 million. Similarly, 52 tractors out of the 107 procured under Public Private Partnership arrangement
between the Federal and State Governments and Afcott Nigeria Limited will be distributed to deserving farmers at
40% subsidy, in the ratio of Federal Government 25% and the State Government 15%.
 
The loan packages were handed over to Local Government Chairmen and Development Area Administrators for
onward disbursement to the beneficiaries.

Agricultural Advances / Agricultural Term Loan Scheme

Agriculture term loans refer to capital investments required by farmers to realize benefits over a period of time. The outlay,
is according to the NABARD unit of the scheme cost. The schemes are financed subject to the technical feasibility and
economic viability of the proposal in the area of operation.

All individuals, groups of individuals, and corporate entrepreneurs who have

Eligibility
experience in the line of activity
No margin up to Rs.10, 000
Margin
15% to 25% above Rs.10, 000
Term loan 
Where movable assets are created: 
Up to Rs.25000: Hypothecation of assets
Over Rs.25000: Hypothecation of assets and mortgage or declaratory charge over
Security farm lands or 3rd party guarantee.

Where movable assets are not created:

Up to Rs.10000: DP Note, DP Note delivery letter
Over Rs.10000: Mortgage of farmlands or 3rd party guarantee
In Instalments according to the progress of work and amount payable direct to
Disbursement
suppliers wherever moveable assets are financed
Minimum of 3 years with a maximum repayment period of 15 years including the
Repayment
gestation period depending on the type of schemes and in line with NABARD norms
Insurance Waived up to Rs.10, 000

Agricultural Jewel Loan Scheme

To meet the short term credit requirements for purchase of inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, seeds
Purpose / Objective
etc for carrying out e seasonal agri operations.

Eligibility All farmers.

 * Crop Loan: 60% of the value of the estimated produce or Rs.20,000/- per acre whichever is lower.
* Term Loan: Maximum or Rs.15,000/- per acre. Ceiling of Rs.1 lakh per acre for taking up various
developmental activities like deepening of well etc.
Quantum of Loan
* Based on the scale of finance fixed for individual crops subject to the maximum advance value
based on the net weight of jewel ornament which is now pegged at Rs.750 per gram or 70% of
market value of the jewels to be pledged whichever is lower.

Amount Slab(Rs. in
Interest Rate
Lakhs)
7%(under interest subvention scheme
Interest Rates Upto 3.00
of GOI)
>3.00 to 5.00 BPLR + 0.50%
>5.00 BPLR + 1.00%
Repayment Period Loan amount to be adjusted within 2 months from the date of harvest of the crop.

Security Pledging of jewels.

* BPLR = 13.50 % and BASE RATE = 9.50%  

SBI provides SBI Agriculture loan (term loan) for asset (bullocks, farm machinery, sheep etc.) purchase as well as asset creation
(poultry, orchard development, dairy development etc.) which are connected with activities in rural areas and fall under
horticulture, agriculture, sericulture, plantation, animal husbandry etc. and the loan is to be repaid over a time span of 3 years.
Eligibility:
All categories of farmers as well as agricultural laborers are eligible for this loan.
Loan Amount:
100% of project/asset cost for loans up to Rs 50,000.
85% of project/asset cost for loans more than Rs 50,000
Documentation:
Activities like bullock purchase or other similar purchases, no documents required.
Large loan amounts will require project/estimate/quotation reports.
Loan for land based activities will need land records.
For loan amounts greater than 25,000, no due certificates are required from other banks in that area.

Loan Disbursement:
Loans are directly disbursed to the suppliers as per the schedule.

Security:

Movable assets 
Up to Rs10,000/- : Personal Guarantee
Above Rs 10,000/- : Personal Guarantee and land mortgage

Unmovable assets 
Up to Rs 50,000/- : Hypothecation of the asset created
50,000< Loan > 1 Lac : Hypothecation of the assets created, loan mortgage or 3rd party guarantee
Loan > 1 Lac : Hypothecation of the assets created, land mortgage
Interest rate for SBI Agriculture loan:
The rate of interest varies from 8.5% to 12.75% depending on the loan amount and in the extreme cases of very high loan
amounts, credit risk assessment is required.
Repayment period:
Repayment period varies from 5-15 years and is based on the income generation of the activity for which the loan was taken.

SHG wing

The Govt. issued orders vide G.O. Ms. No. 15 dated 25.1.2005 merging the Women Empowerment & Self
Employment department
with the Rural Development Department and the guidelines effecting the implementation of the
programmes w.e.f. 1.4.2005 have been issued
vide Memo No. 2776/RD.II/A1/2005-1 dated 21.3.2005.

The following schemes are looked after by the SHG Wing of Rural Development.

1. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar yojana (SGSY)

2. Self Help Groups
a. State Revolving Fund,

SHG BankLinkage & Interest Subsidy

3. SGSY Special Projects

4. DRDA Administration
5. NSAP

Our Vision
We aim to achieve integrated rural development through implementation of anti-poverty programs that are
designed to empower women, generate self-employment and bring progress and prosperity in the society.
Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of all round rural development lives on through our sustained efforts. 

Our Mission
We are committed to help rural women rise above poverty, and convinced that it can be achieved through
strengthening small local groups of women. It is every woman’s innate desire to provide the best for her
children and family. As a catalyst, we bring together the self-motivated women and concentrate their
efforts towards achieving financial independence. In this process, we nurture natural resources of the
region and encourage common property resource management. We train rural women to upgrade their
skill levels and impart new skills hence maximizing the gains out of self-employment programs and micro-
enterprise. There is a conscious effort to take appropriate technology to the remotest parts of Andhra
Pradesh bridging the urban-rural divide and creating a mutually acceptable communication platform.
District Rural Development Agencies – registered under the Registered Societies Act coordinates with us
to implement and evaluate the development programs at district level. There are 22 functioning DRDAs in
rural districts of Andhra Pradesh at present. Each DRDA is headed by a project director. The DRDAs also
implement the SGSY (Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna) launched on April 1st 1999 and other
government schemes.

Benchmarking best practices 

Best practices in SHGs are being evolved continuously based on experiences for example:

 Regular meetings
 Continuous savings
 Internal rotation of savings
 Conduct of meetings with specific agenda
 Thrift and credit operations taking place in the group meeting
 Rotation of leaders
 Transparent and democratic decision making
 Non-exploitation of members' needs
 One for all and all for one
 Urge for increase of corpus
 Determination for economic and social development
 Training and Capacity building

Training and capacity building: 

It is not sufficient to promote SHG but the group has to be sustained. Constant inputs of training and
capacity building are required to sustain SHGs. District Rural Development Agencies are striving towards
this goal by constantly organizing training programs. Apart from DRDAs, number of NGOs (National as
well as International), organizations like NABARD are actively associated with the training and capacity
building of SHGs. 
It has been of general observation that any group at least requires four training days in a year. The
groups need guidance in terms of best practices in group management, conduct of group meetings,
accounts and book keeping and mode of accessing to government schemes and bank finance.

Bankable, Creditworthy: 
Once the SHG completes six months and members, continuously practicing thrift, rotating the corpus
generated, it becomes eligible to get bank loan. The loan amount ranges from two times of savings
amount (including amount under rotation) to four times. Leadership of NABARD in Andhra Pradesh, today
has made bankers very positive towards SHGs. Bankers are viewing SHGs as a bankable option.
Constant orientation programs to bankers, and also developing positive attitude with the groups on
repayment has helped to scale up the SHG-bank linkage program. Totally around Rs 1900 crores of
credit has been mobilized for the SHG women. 
Government assistance: 
The government provides incentives to promote SHGs. Apart from centrally sponsored SGSY,
Government of Andhra Pradesh is also proving matching grant which is equal to the savings made by
SHG. The amount of matching grant ranges from minimum Rs.5000/- to maximum of Rs.10,000/-. 

Convergence: 
The SHGs are sustainable only if they are more broad based and various services are converged at their
level. Members in long run should not see SHGs only as micro credit provider but for providing various
services like insurance, information, etc. Government is also making conscious efforts to coverage
various service with SHGs. A large number of the women from SHGs participate in Janmabhoomi (a
government program envisaging over-all development of village) regularly as active partners for their
village development. Various services / programs of government are getting converged at SHG level.
Under Deepam scheme 11.4 lakh women SHG members have been given LPG connections. In addition
to above, 15 lakh L P Gas connections are proposed by Government under Deepam scheme this year to
the members of women SHGs. Government is giving Rs. 1000/- subsidy for each connection and power
to select the beneficiaries is given to the groups. 
Rural permanent housing program of state government is being entrusted to the SHGs on pilot basis.
Raising of nurseries, management of watersheds is also entrusted to women in some districts.
Construction of individual sanitary latrines has been entrusted to women in various places. Women SHGs
are actively participating in literacy program "Akshara Sankranthi". Women SHGs had very good impact
on reducing the influence of moneylenders in rural areas. Similarly there is impressive impact on SHG
members of other Government programs like family welfare, education, girl child education, immunization
of children etc. 

Marketing: 
Marketing support is provided to the SHGs through DWCRA Bazaars (Market outlets), which have been
set up in all the districts, and permanent DWCRA Bazaar is nearing completion at Hyderabad. Products
worth more than Rs.100 crores were sold through DWCRA Bazaars in the last two years. Training and
Technology Development Centres (TTDC) have been established in each district to introduce innovative
technologies for the qualitative improvement of products made by the SHGs. 
The SHGs are assisted in many districts to develop branding of their products ex: Stree Prakasham in
Ongole disrict, Mahila in Adilabad district etc., Women are encouraged to participate in fairs taking place
at national level and in other states. Collaboration with Hindustan Lever Ltd., has been secured by SHGs
of Nalgonda district where MACS have been appointed as stockist points and groups as sales points for
marketing DWCRA products. Leading super bazaars like Food World, Trinetra came forward to tie up with
SHGs and market DWCRA products. 
Some DWCRA products have very good demand. Pickle producing SHGs of Guntur district got orders
worth Rs 6.00 lakhs, lace groups of West Godavari district got export orders. 

Institutional building: 
SHGs are encouraged to come together as Cooperative Societies at the village level and mandal level by
federating them under Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act 1995. Nearly 250 societies have been
formed so far. These societies will be accessing credit from financial institutions, donor agencies, DRDAs
and Voluntary organizations and help the members of women SHGs in availing bigger loans for economic
activities and also helps in collective bargaining in marketing of products, purchasing raw materials etc. 
There is perceptible improvement in socio-economic status of rural women as a result of this movement.
Women have become very active, assertive and are concerned with the issues relating to them and their
surroundings. 

NGOs chip in: 

Right from the beginning, NGOs in Andhra Pradesh are working for the cause of women. More than 200
committed NGOs have been involved in facilitating formation of SHGs and their sustenance. NGOs are
working in close coordination with DRDAs in training and capacity building, skill development training
programs and building SHG centered organizations.