Presenting the plan at the State Level Credit seminar here recently, Nabard chief general manager R Balakrishnan said that although farm mechanisation envisaged an expenditure of Rs 422 crore, bankers must be cautious about financing higher horse-power tractors and concentration of tractors in few districts. He said the plan for the next fiscal included Rs 56 crore for market yard and cold storage, Rs 85 crore for dairy development, and Rs 134 crore for fisheries.

According to the Gujarat government's principal secretary PG Ramrakhiani, the state offered great potental for developing horticulture as well as fisheries, even as 75 per cent of the cultivated area was affected by wind and water erosion, and another 10 per cent bysalinity ingress. He appealed to banks to meet the genuine credit needs in increasing agricultural production and alleviating poverty.

The Reserve Bank of India chief general manager KK Dutta called for improving the credit-deposit ratio, and timely submission of monitoring returns to ensure real impact of development.