Assessment of Credit Pattern of Small and Marginal Farmers in Cauvery Delta Zone of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Finance is the lifeblood of any business same way credit is the lifeblood of agriculture. Without credit, farmers cannot do farming activities. Hence the Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Societies provide credit to farm and non-farm activities in rural areas to improve agriculture. The adequate and timely availability of credit at reasonable rates is crucial for agricultural development. The study is based on households’ survey conducted in six blocks from three districts viz., Ammapettai and Orathanadu blocks of Thanjavur district, Needamangalam and Mannargudi blocks of Thiruvarur district, Kilvelur and Thirumarugal blocks of Nagapattinam district. Two villages from each block were selected purposively based on more area under rice cultivation. Sample size of 366 farmers which consisted of 183 marginal and 183 small farmers was selected randomly based on proportionate random sampling method. The data were statistically tabulated and analyzed by calculating simple percentages and cumulative square root frequency method for categorization. Nearly one-fourth of the farmers (24.86%) had low level of credit orientation followed by 23.50 per cent had very low level, 21.58 per cent had high level, 15.03 per cent of farmers had medium and very high level of credit orientation. The small farmers having high credit orientation than marginal farmers, the most of the small farmer’s occupational status was farming and business. They utilize credit for their farm, household and non-farm activities. More than three-fifth of the marginal farmers (63.39%) sometimes relying on individual moneylenders for their credit source followed by 45.36 per cent of small farmers sometimes rely on individual money lenders for their credit source and more than half of the farmers (54.37%). Most of the marginal and small farmers were having low to medium level of income category, they depend on banks, co-operative societies and money lenders for their credit source. Mostly they allocate equal percentage of loan for the farm and household expenses. The policy makers can make note of the utilization pattern of agricultural credit and can give directions on the lending terms and conditions.