Banks have a job on hand to make conventional farmers into modern day entrepreneurs, and this transformation provides abundant lending opportunities for banks, according to Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank.
Addressing the participants at the bank’s Agri-Business conference, he said farmers need to adopt modern agricultural tools and practices with an innovative approach.
Precision agriculture and use of drones have come a long way to lead modern agricultural practices. This helps improve affordability of food, increased supplies, and ensure sustainability. He said food and agriculture processing and agri infrastructure play a vital role in modern day agriculture, especially for perishable goods.
‘Lend proactive support to farmers’
Mahabaleshwara said the need of the hour is to get updated on market information, better prepared to face natural calamities, and practice hi-tech agriculture. For this, banks should be proactive in extending credit support.
“In line with our Transformation Wave - 2.0 ‘KBL NxT’, an advanced digital initiative, KBL AgriNxt is brought in. The bank is exploring the possible participation in emerging digital disruption in agriculture sector by having tie-ups with agri fin-tech companies,” he said.
Since inception, Karnataka Bank has been supporting the priority lending initiatives focusing on agriculture. The bank has tailor-made farmer-friendly loan products that are regularly updated as per the market requirements. Farmers should effectively make use of the bank’s agricultural loan products, he said.
The bank’s Agriculture Field Officers have an important role to play and should be sensitive to understand the farmers’ requirement at the ground level by providing timely credit, he added.