Minister for Cooperation Ramesh Jarkiholi said on Monday that the government had released Rs 3,000 crore for the farm loan waiver scheme announced by it.

He was addressing the gathering at the valedictory of the All India Cooperative Week programme here.

The scheme requires a total of Rs 8,000 crore, he said. The minister said the money would be released in phases based on the bills received from the cooperative banks, till the end of March next year. He said several poor farmers from the SC/ST communities and backward classes had benefited from the loan waiver scheme.

Jarkiholi said the cooperative banks were providing substantial assistance to the farmers, even though 16 nationalised banks were operating in the state.

He said Karnataka was the only state giving farm loans at 0% interest rate. It was in the second position in the country in the cooperation sector, next only to Maharashtra, the minister said.