Impact of Kisan Credit Card Scheme on Farmers in Kannauj District of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Capital is the most important input in any sector in any country, and agriculture is no exception. The agricultural sector's performance and productivity are determined by the availability of capital for farming activities. As a result, the agriculture sector requires support or credit in order to grow and survive. Agriculture credit is desperately needed to improve the agricultural sector's performance and production. Before financial reforms, the main source of agriculture credit was non-institutional sources i.e. Sahukars, Mahajanas, Moneylenders etc. and they were providing credit facility to farmer households at very high interest rates. The study was carried out in purposively selected district of Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh. The present study has made an attempt to study as the Kisan Credit Card Scheme is being implemented in the district as well as the researcher is well acquainted with the area. 158 beneficiaries and 158 non-beneficiaries were selected randomly for the current study. The main objective of present study is to investigate the challenges and issues in the adoption of Kisan credit card scheme by farmer households and how much this scheme succeed in resolving the previous issues and challenges. Credit availability for agricultural activities is the crucial input for improving the performance and productivity of the agriculture sector. The research aims to find out the sources of finance before and after the adoption of KCC Scheme opted by farmer households for availing the credit to fulfill the capital requirement of agriculture and allied activities. The analysis demonstrates a considerable favorable change in recipients' preferred source of credit following the implementation of the KCC scheme. Following the implementation of the KCC Scheme, the beneficiaries' credit sources moved from non-institutional to institutional. The Kisan Credit Card schemes revolutionized rural financing in India. This study will be extremely useful in determining the best way to distribute the KCC plan.