Cooperative banks in Odisha have achieved strong progress in crop loan disbursement, with 15.85 lakh farmers receiving Rs 8,731.80 crore for the Rabi 2025-26 season as of March 17, 2026.
Cooperation Minister Pradeep Bal Samanta told the State Assembly during a discussion on departmental expenditure that the Rabi target was Rs 9,500 crore, while the Kharif-2025 target of Rs 11,000 crore saw Rs 10,560.15 crore disbursed to 19.07 lakh farmers.
In the full 2024-25 year (Kharif + Rabi), banks disbursed Rs 19,361.70 crore against a Rs 20,000 crore target, benefiting 36.01 lakh farmers. Cooperative banks now meet around 43% of the state’s total crop loan needs.
Under the short-term agricultural credit interest subsidy scheme, farmers who repay regularly receive interest-free loans up to Rs 1 lakh in both seasons. Loans between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh carry only a 2% interest rate.
The minister also announced plans to revolutionise agricultural marketing through “Model Mandis” – modern one-stop centres with sheds, drying platforms, digital weighing machines, water and electricity supply, godowns, and integrated pack houses for grading, packing and storage.
The Cabinet has already approved 38 Model Mandis in the first phase. Another 62 will be set up in the second phase during 2026-27.
To boost sugarcane cultivation in the catchment areas of cooperative sugar mills, the 2026-27 budget proposes Rs 5 crore. The move aims to ensure timely procurement at fair prices through better farmer-mill coordination.
On storage infrastructure, 49 of the 51 godowns under the Odisha State Warehousing Corporation have been registered with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA). The department plans to create an additional 4 lakh metric tonne capacity across the state in the next two years.
