The Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver package may not bring cheer to all farmers. Those growing plantation crops like coffee and engaging in agriculture-allied activities like weaving, processing of food materials and floriculture, may not get any benefit from the package.

Long-duration crops, including plantation crops, are covered under investment credit and are not eligible for the 7% subsidised interest rate. They attract normal rate of interest, of about 10-11%, a National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) official said.

In addition, a farmer often avails non-farm credit for allied activities to supplement his livelihood. This loan component again would not be waived off as per the new package, sources said.

According to sources, the package would wipe out non-performing loans arising out of farm crops. But the farming community may still continue to remain in debt in case the loans taken for allied activities are not waived off. ?Though the package would provide major relief, it may not help in wiping out the entire amount of the outstanding loans as it may not be applicable for NPL arising out of plantation crop,? a banking industry source said.

Besides, this one-time package may encourage some farmers to continue with the practice of non-payment of loans. ?If there is no incentive for those who have repaid their dues, this programme could lead to a rise in the number of defaulters in the future,? the source pointed out.

Bankers also said there was complete lack of clarity on whether the package was applicable to those growing cash crops like cotton and oil-seeds.

Around 50% of the farmers, who have taken credit from non-institutional sources, which primarily include authorised and unauthorised money lenders, are anyway not covered by the package. Their debt, according to National Sample Survey Organisation figures, amounts to Rs 40,000 crore. According to an RBI study, of every Rs 1,000 outstanding of farmer households in the country, Rs 257 has been sourced from moneylenders.

RBI data said the share of moneylenders in the indebtedness of farmer households in Bihar, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were well above the national average, with Andhra Pradesh at the top (sourcing Rs 534 from money lenders of every Rs 1,000 outstanding). It added that the penetration of moneylenders was significant even in states that were regarded as being adequately banked (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu).