MP farmers receive loan against mortgage of trees
Grow trees and get a loan! At a time when debt-ridden MadhyaPradeshfarmersarecommitting suicide, a cooperative society and panchayat in a Harda district village is providing loans against mortgage of trees.
The local cooperative society and panchayat of Chindgaon Tamoli village, 180 km from Bhopal, undertook the initiative three years ago with an aim to save farmers from money lenders, who charged them a high rate of interest.
“Three years ago, there was a drought in the state and it hit the economic condition of many villagers. Debt-ridden farmers requested the panchayat to help them or else they would be forced to commit suicide,” said village sarpanch Ashok Gurjar. “The panchayat and cooperative society members decided to provide loans on mortgaging of trees as it would benefit both the environment and farmers,” he said.
The farmers can avail a loan of ₹1,000 against a fruit-bearing tree and ₹5,00 in credit against other trees.
When the initiative was started there were hardly 100 trees in the entire village because of which many farmers could not receive loans.
To promote plantation and proper care of saplings, the panchayat put a rider that loan would be given against the mortgage of only those trees that were at least three years old. This has resulted in thousands of plants springing up in the village as farmers planted saplings so that they were eligible to receive a loan by 2017.
A farmer recently got a loan of ₹11,000 to purchase fertilizers through the initiative.
“I didn’t have any money to purchase fertilizers. I went to the cooperative society’s office and got a ₹11,000 loan. If I take loan from a money lender, I have to pay a very high monthly interest rate but here, the annual interest is just 16%,” farmer Supyar Singh Rajput said.
A resident of the village, Bhagwandas Dhoke, prevented a bank from ceasing his hut by taking a loan against the trees he had planted.
“I had taken loan of ₹ 50,000 from the bank by mortgaging my hut but I was unable to pay the interest. I then went to cooperative society and got a loan by mortgaging some trees.”
Buoyed by the success of the initiative, the villagers have decided to plant 21,000 saplings during this year’s rainy season.