Mumbai: The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has recorded a spectacular performance by releasing an assistance of Rs3,652 crore to the cooperative sector during 2007-08, thus exceeding its target of Rs2,000 crore.

 NCDC is expecting a pre-tax profit of Rs130 crore, which is substantially higher than that in the previous fiscal, Sharad Pawar, minister of agriculture, consumer affairs, food & public distribution, said while presiding over NCDC's 66th general council meeting today.

Speaking on the steps taken by the government to address the difficulties of the farming community, especially the small and marginal farmers, Pawar said: 'Keeping this in view, the government has announced a Rs71,680 crore agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme for farmers covering direct agricultural loans. The government has also identified 237 districts in 18 states where productivity is quite low as these are in desert and drought prone areas. Farmers of these areas would be eligible for a minimum loan relief of Rs20,000 each even if his land holding was above 2 hectares, he said.

The other major initiative taken by the government include significantly raising MSP for various crops, rehabilitation package of Rs16,979 crore for 31 suicide prone districts and formulation of National Policy on Farmers.

Pawar expressed satisfaction that the initiatives taken by the government have started facilitating a turnaround of our agricultural economy. The country has achieved an all time record production in major crops like rice, wheat, maize, tur and cotton and the agriculture growth rate is estimated at around 4.5 per cent for 2007-08. The higher agriculture growth will push the gross domestic product growth rate to 9 per cent from the initial estimate of 8.7 per cent, he said.

The state governments have also reached an agreement on the content of the package to implement of the Vaidyanathan Committee's report on reviving the long-term cooperative credit structure, he said. The cost of the package is estimated at Rs3,074 crore of which the central government's share will be 2,642 crore or 86 per cent of the total burden, he said.