The State Bank of India(SBI), Mumbai circle, launched Project Uptech Grapes, covering three districts of western Maharashtra. The three districts of Nashik, Sangli and Solapur account for 1,800 hectare of land under grape cultivation out of the state's total 35,000 ha. Nashik district alone accounting for 50% of the state's total. Under Project Uptech Grapes, 25 representative farmers form each district will be selected for the SBI's impact study. These farmers will get the benefit of technological and other support from SBI which has also roped in the National Research Centre for Grapes(NRC), located at Manjari. Chief general manager SBI, Mumbai told that the financial package of Project Uptech involves giving farmers interest-free loans for up to Rs 1 lakh for a 36 month period and term loans of longer tenure(between 4-10 years) at the bank's prime lending rate(PLR), currently at 12%. Usually, it lends at 2-2.5% above PLR. He added that the focus is to improve quality of the produce, change agri practices, introduce other varieties of grapes and diversify the export markets. The Project will have a four-year life, which will involve a 30% increase in yield, a 25% increase in shelf life and ensure that 1,000 acres of grapes are grown under organic farming and five new downstream projects come up. |
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