Demand and Gap in Credit for Grape Crop in Solapur District of Maharashtra

The access of farmers to credit enables them to adopt new technology for higher production possibilities. Therefore, this paper has estimated the cost on production and establishment, and credit demand of farmers to fund the credit gap for grape crop based on the loan advanced by the District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) in Solapur district. The tahsils of Mangalwedha, Sangola and Mohol in Solapur district were selected purposively for the study and the data of grape cultivars were collected for the year 2010–11. The average per hectare credit requirement at working capital level for establishment and maintenance of grapes worked out to be 4,20,186 and 1,68,867, respectively. The average per hectare credit requirement at 30 per cent of gross produce level for grapes (both establishment and maintenance) was estimated to be 2,13,984. The study has revealed that the scale of finance decided by the SDCCB was scanty in the case of grapes (establishment cost) at 50 per cent level of Cost ‘C’. Hence, it is imperative to raise the credit for grape establishment by 54 per cent and grape maintenances by 65 per cent in Maharashtra.