Anil KumarRay, Susweta2018-09-062018-09-062015-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810072136The present study, conducted in Nadia district of west Bengal was based on primary data collected from 80 sample farmers for the period from March, 2014 to February, 2015. The study primarily aimed at assessing farmers’ preferences for the sources of credit; loan utilization pattern; magnitude of indebtedness among farm households; to identify the factors influencing indebtedness and to examine the repayment performance of farm households. The sample was drawn by following PPS method based upon land size classes. Simple statistical tools and regression technique were used to achieve the objectives of the study. The results of the study revealed that out of 80 farm households, 79 households (98.75 per cent) availed loan during the study period. Almost all the farmers borrowed short term loan while only 8.75 per cent farmers were found to borrow term loan. Among different sources of institutional credit co-operative banks were the major sources of credit across the land size classes, followed by commercial banks and regional rural banks. Farmers were found to be solely dependent on institutional sources for short term as well as term credit. Farm households, especially those who belong to marginal and sub-marginal classes, relied on non-institutional credit sources for meeting their consumption needs. The most preferred non-institutional sources were friends and relatives followed by professional money lenders and traders. The overall diversion of loan was found to be 10 per cent. The loan utilization pattern between productive and non-productive purposes showed that a major portion of crop loan availed was directed towards payment of labourers and irrigation, whereas that of the term loans was utilized in purchase of machineries. The major non-productive purposes in which loan was used, were repayment of old debt and ceremonies. The findings on extent and magnitude of indebtedness showed that 77 farmers (96.25 per cent) were indebted with an average outstanding amount per household of Rs. 51,455. The outstanding amount with medium and large farmers was Rs. 22,500 whereas the average outstanding loan amount were Rs. 64,091, Rs. 53,031 and Rs. 42,393 for small, marginal and sub-marginal farmers respectively. The average debt-income ratio was 0.74. The debt servicing capacity was found to be negative for sub-marginal farmers. The major factors exerting positive and significant influence on farmers’ indebtedness were observed to be average interest rate, farm loan diversion and consumption expenditure. However, farm and non-farm income and education level were found to have significant negative impact on farmers’ indebtedness. The overall rate of repayment in the study area was around 29 per cent, 45 per cent and 24 per cent for short term loan, term loan and non-institutional loan. Major policy implications emerged from the study are, (i) Farmers should be encouraged to avail institutional credit rather than non-institutional credit. (ii) Greater financial inclusion is required especially for marginal and sub-marginal farmers to restrain them from availing non-institutional credit for consumption need, (iii) Emphasis should be given to improve farmers’ income level in order to increase their debt servicing capacity.ennullThesis