Ranchi: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Jharkhand, achieved record performance last financial year (2025-26) with investment of Rs 5,703.74 crore for improving farmers’ access to credit, promoting sustainable agriculture, and accelerating digital transformation in rural areas, it said in a statement.NABARD added that it has significantly expanded the flow of credit to rural areas with total support touching Rs 3,316 crore. This enabled banks to extend timely and affordable loans to farmers, self-help groups, and rural entrepreneurs, it said.NABARD stated that its Jharkhand branch also extended loans to the state govt to the tune of Rs 2,400 crore under rural infrastructure development funds to strengthen rural infrastructure across the state, including irrigation, connectivity, and community assets adding that a sum of Rs 381 crore was sanctioned under the Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF).A major highlight of the year has been the rapid push towards digitalisation as over 1,500 primary agriculture credit societies have been computerised, with a large number now functioning as digital e-PACS.The other activities included support to tribal communities, watershed projects to improve livelihoods in vulnerable regions, promotion of farmer producer organisations, strengthening collective marketing and income opportunities for farmers, encouraging natural farming practices and introducing paperless credit systems like e-KCC which is making crop loans faster, simpler, and more accessible.Chief general manager of NABARD, Deepmala Ghosh, said, “Our performance reflects the strong commitment to strengthening rural livelihood and driving inclusive growth. The focus on expanding credit, promoting farmer-producer organization, encouraging natural farming and accelerating digital initiatives is making rural finance more accessible, efficient and transparent.”
