Under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme, short-term credit support is provided to farmers for purposes that directly support agricultural activities and the farm household.
Statement 1 is correct. The KCC scheme provides working capital for the maintenance of farm assets, which includes expenses for irrigation, fertilizers, and labor costs.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The KCC scheme's short-term credit component does not cover the purchase of capital-intensive assets such as combine harvesters, tractors, and mini trucks. These are typically financed through long-term investment credit, not short-term working capital.
Statement 3 is correct. The KCC scheme provides credit for the consumption requirements of the farm household (usually capped at a certain percentage of the limit).
Statement 4 is correct. The KCC scheme covers post-harvest expenses, including costs for storage, transportation, and marketing of produce.
Statement 5 is incorrect. The construction of a family house and setting up of village cold storage facilities are long-term capital investments and are not covered under the short-term credit support of the KCC scheme.
As per RBI/NABARD guidelines, the eligible activities for KCC are:
- Short-term credit requirements for cultivation of crops.
- Post-harvest expenses.
- Produce marketing loan.
- Consumption requirements of farmer household.
- Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture like dairy animals, inland fishery, etc.
- Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities like pumpsets, sprayers, dairy animals, etc. (Note: The question specifically asks for short-term credit support).
Hence, option B is the correct answer.
