Farm lending simplified

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah yesterday announced the simplification of procedures for farmers to obtain credit.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference yesterday, Sjarifudin said the bureaucratic procedures for farmers to obtain loans would be reduced to three steps from the 11 steps at present.

Farming loans, locally called KUT, were introduced for the first time in 1985 by the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia. The facility is aimed at strengthening rice and secondary crop cultivation and to improve farmers' welfare.

The minister said that for the 1994-1995 planting season (October 1994-March 1995), the banks provided Rp 34.6 billion (US$15.5 million) in KUT loans, of which Rp 831 million or 2.4 percent has been repaid.

The accumulative amount of KUT credits channeled between 1985 and 1995 reached Rp 567 billion, of which 79.7 percent has been paid back.(pwn)