Constraint Analysis of Accessibility and Utilization of Agricultural Credit and Associated Socio-economic Traits in Puri District of Odisha, India

The study aimed at investigating constraints in access to institutional agricultural credit and pattern of utilization of the credit obtained by the farmers in the state of Odisha. With the application of multi stage random sampling technique, 175 farmers are selected for the analysis of the study. Descriptive statistics, Credit Adequacy Ratio have been employed in the study to identify the constraints in accessibility of credit for different groups of farmers. An index used by Lalhunthara & NVR [1] is employed in the study to find out major difficulties faced by the farmers. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression technique have been incorporated in the study to examine the credit utilization pattern and its relationship with other farm related socio-economic variables. The study found that credit gap is high for landless and marginal farmers while smaller for large farmers. As per the opinion of the farmers, red tapism in the bank is the biggest problem faced by them in access to institutional credit followed by certain collateral problems. The study depicts that nearly half of the credit accessed by the farmers is utilized for unproductive purposes of which the proportion of marginal and small farmers is more.  Productive credit utilization is mostly made for machinery implementation and payment to the hired labour. Similarly, unproductive uses are in favor of building houses, social functions and ceremonial purposes. The study also reveals that there exists a positive relationship between agricultural productivity and productive utilization of agricultural credit.