Latest news with #tenantfarmers
Coin Geek
30-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
Landless farmers in India reap benefits of CBDC: report
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... What once seemed like a far-off concept—using a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as an alternative to traditional money—is now becoming a reality in India. Initially met with skepticism, the digital rupee has moved beyond the experimental stage and is actively being used, with the State Bank of India (NASDAQ: SBKFF), the country's largest public sector bank, leading its real-world application. In partnership with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), SBI is delivering agricultural credit through CBDC to tenant farmers—those who cultivate land without owning it—in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha provinces. This initiative goes beyond theory, demonstrating how digital currency can streamline credit delivery, prevent misuse, and ensure that benefits reach genuine cultivators, not middlemen or landlords. According to a Financial Express report, NABARD and SBI are running pilot projects to help landless farmers get access to agricultural loans in select districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha provinces. These pilots use the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) CBDC to offer Kisan Credit Card (KCC) benefits to tenant farmers. SBI is conducting the pilots in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna, East and West Godavari districts, and in Odisha's Cuttack and Puri districts. The initiative aims to prevent misuse of credit by ensuring that loans are used only for farming purposes, such as buying seeds and fertilizers from approved vendors. So far, in FY2025, the report stated that over ₹4.5 crore has been sanctioned under this pilot. In Odisha, 501 tenant farmers have benefited with loan approvals, while in Andhra Pradesh 218 farmers have benefited from the loan sanctions. The report stated that 30–40% of India's cultivated land is currently farmed by tenants who don't own the land. However, KCC loans are usually given only to landowners. Although the government has tried forming joint liability groups to offer loans to landless farmers, banks still face issues verifying who the actual cultivators are. The report stated that under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), KCC holders can borrow up to ₹3 lakh (about $3,508) at a 7% annual interest rate. If the loan is repaid on time, farmers get a 3% interest discount, reducing the effective rate to 4%. From FY2026, the loan limit will increase to ₹5 lakh (about $5,847) per year. KCC loans help farmers meet working capital needs for purchasing agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, as well as for allied sectors like dairy and fisheries. The pilot programs in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha mark a turning point. Using the digital rupee, tenant farmers receive direct benefit transfers (DBT) and agricultural loans. These funds are being used to buy essential inputs like seeds and fertilizers from authorized vendors, ensuring that credit is used for its intended purpose. By integrating digital currency into agricultural credit systems, the initiative offers a transparent, traceable, and efficient way to support the backbone of Indian agriculture: its farmers, especially those without land titles. The initiative also addresses long-standing gaps in rural credit delivery, particularly for tenant farmers, who have historically struggled to access formal loans due to a lack of documentation and land records. With CBDC and digital wallets, these barriers are starting to break down—signaling a shift toward more inclusive, accountable, and tech-enabled rural finance. The RBI started its first digital rupee pilot in the wholesale segment on November 1, 2022, to settle secondary market transactions in government securities. It started the pilot with nine banks—State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank (NASDAQ: HDB), ICICI Bank (NASDAQ: IBN), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, and HSBC (NASDAQ: HSBC). The retail digital rupee pilot started on December 1, 2022, and users were able to transact through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones or devices. In 2024, India's blockchain-based digital rupee made significant progress as the RBI achieved notable advancements with its CBDC use cases. In December 2024, former central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said India's CBDC has a lot of potential and is likely to become the future of money. Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Times
We can't survive as farmers under Labour — so we're moving to France
I was born and bred in Hertfordshire, and I've been farming most of my life here [ says Jo Franklin, 42 ]. My parents farmed, my father's parents farmed and their parents did too. My husband, Rob, and I set up our business 13 years ago from scratch. We're passionate about what we do and very good at it. But since the new government came in, we've realised our business isn't viable any more. So we've decided to sell our farm in England, move our family to France and start again as farmers there. We feel we have no choice. Right now, we have a five-bedroom farmhouse in one acre near the town of Ware, in Hertfordshire. We have a 64-acre smallholding where we run a sheep dairy business, with 300 milking ewes. For our main business, we are tenant farmers across another 1,800 acres, where we have another 2,000 commercial sheep for meat, and we also do arable farming. We have 27 landlords. Our goal by this age was to stop being tenant farmers and buy our own land. But when this government came in, we sensed the future was not going to be good. Things were already difficult. Since the Second World War, food production has been subsidised by the government. And they've continued to do it, to keep food cheap and voters happy. The supermarkets have so much power, while farmers have none — and it's a race to the bottom in terms of quality. Labour is expensive here, and in England it's traditionally expected that farmers will house workers. The red tape is also huge in this country. I probably spend a month a year dealing with audits and inspections. We have some of the highest overhead costs in the world here, and our government is making it harder by putting national insurance up. That's really hurt small businesses. On top of that, they've brought in a fertiliser tax, without consulting farmers. At the same time, they've pulled the plug on major subsidies. We knew that the government's Basic Payment Scheme, which gave you money to manage your land responsibly, was being wound down over seven years. But the first thing this government did when they got in was say, we're going to end that this year. So that cost us about £60,000 in annual income. The final straw was the scrapping of the Sustainable Farming Incentive subsidy scheme. We got about £200,000 over three years for that. In March, the government closed it suddenly. The Franklin family's five-bedroom farmhouse in Ware, Hertfordshire, is on the market for £1.25 million AARON BARTLETT AARON BARTLETT Luckily we'd got our papers signed off in December last year. But in two years, when our subsidy expires, our business will fall off a cliff. We have a profitable business that employs seven people. But once the subsidy is gone, we would be a lifestyle business, a smallholder. We wouldn't be able to afford the staff, and we would literally be working to pay the rent — hand to mouth. All our money from government subsidies previously came to about £250,000 a year. And the profit of our business is about £250,000 a year. So you take those subsidies away, and you've got no business. • In the past, France was not attractive to us, because the inheritance tax was high there. But now inheritance tax here will be about the same as it is over there. The difference is, we will be able to run a profitable enough business in France to put cash aside for the children to be able to pay inheritance tax. 'Consumers in France care about what they eat' What appeals about France is, the land is cheaper and the country is invested in food. Consumers care about what they eat. Many consumers here don't seem to care what they eat. The more processed, the better. The supermarket aisles are filled with processed food. In France, the supermarket chains are not as big and powerful. People still go to markets, take the time to eat and consider what they're eating. They eat less but the food is better quality. And agriculture is a far bigger slice of France's gross domestic product, so it's of more interest to the government. An aerial view of the farm in Ware In France, farmers make profits. They don't have a lot of the red tape that we do with assurance schemes and inspections. Labour is expensive, but you don't have to house the workers, and housing is cheaper if you do. Lower property prices are a big advantage. We spend £300,000 a year renting land in the UK. In France, our income will be about the same. But rather than spend £300,000 a year renting land, we'll be spending £90,000 a year on a mortgage. • We're selling our five-bedroom farmhouse in Hertfordshire for £1.25 million with the estate agency Cheffins. It's got an acre, with a zip line, climbing wall, vineyard and home office block. So it's ripe and ready for a family. And in a separate lot we're selling the 64-acre smallholding for £1.35 million. It's got electricity, water, fencing, an outbuilding and planning permission for a house, so it could be good for somebody who's always wanted a smallholding, or for someone who wants to build their own Grand Design. With the proceeds from the sale of our house and smallholding in England, we're buying two adjoining farms in Confolens, near Limoges. One of the French farms has a four-bedroom house, multiple outbuildings and 247 acres. The farm next door has another 550 acres, two houses and comes with a solar business from panels on the roof of the cattle sheds. We also plan to buy 200 cattle and 2,000 sheep. We're doing it through an agent, who will sort out all the red tape around Brexit. We will get an entrepreneur visa, and eventually be able to apply for residency. I'm anxious about the move. Some days I'm really excited. The whole family is learning French on Duolingo. When we have a bad day, we can't wait to leave. Then if it's a lovely sunny peaceful day, I feel sad to be going. But we're taking what we love with us — the kids and the business — and hopefully leaving a lump of costs and red tape behind. The Franklins are planning to move to Confolens, a small town near Limoges GETTY IMAGES 'I can produce lamb to compete with the best in the world' It makes me really cross that our family can't thrive in our own country. Farmers are told to diversify. Because we're tenants, we can't do caravan storage or whatever else. But why should farmers be expected to do Airbnb? Hospitality is not my skill set. But I can produce lamb and wheat to compete with the best in the world. With the extra red tape and costs, however, we can't do that anymore in Britain. I plan our cashflow five years ahead. The new government keeps putting in all these changes and I'm thinking, where can we find that extra amount? We had to let two people go before Christmas and take on the extra work ourselves. We don't want to be working every hour that God sends, just for the privilege of renting. Over the past 20 years, every time a new government comes in, they tell farmers to do something else. It's just been change, change, change, change. And you can't run a business without some sort of certainty. In France we know we can run a profitable business with or without any subsidy. Perhaps we have rose-tinted glasses. But we've done our due diligence. We've spoken to English farmers who have moved over there and they say farming in France is like stepping back in time, when people still cared and took pride in what they did. If we can find customers that value food, I know we'll be all right.
