Borrowing and Utilization Pattern of Co-operative Credit in Satara District of Maharashtra

This study has investigated the borrowing and utilization of co-operative credit by the farmers in the Satara district of Maharashtra. The data were collected from 90 sample farmers by survey method for the year 2005–06. The average amount of borrowing was worked out to be 11775 per household. Out of 90 farmers, 81 farmers (90%) borrowed short-term loans. The average per family short-term borrowing worked out to be 6301. As many as 21 farmers (23.33%) borrowed the medium-term loans at the overall level and the average amount of medium-term loan was 1196 per family. At the overall level, the amount of long term-loan borrowed, increased with the increase in size of holding. The average amount of long-term loan borrowed was 4276 per family. The mis-utilization of loan was observed 24.94 per cent in short-term, 15.12 per cent in medium-term and 17.95 long-term loans. About 95 per cent of total amount borrowed was from the institutional sources and this proportion increased with the increase in size of holding.