evidence: Over the past ten years, the total institutional credit availed by farmers has increased at CAGR 7.8%.19 In 2021-22, the Ministry had targeted to provide Rs 16.5 lakh crore worth of credit to the farmers.[52] It exceeded its target by 13%. It aims to provide Rs 18.5 lakh crore as agricultural credit in 2022-23. As access to credit has increased, the proportion of short-term credit has been reducing since 2012-13 (See Figure 11). However, it rose from 57% in 2020-21 to 60% in 2021-22 (as of December 2022). A higher share of short-term credit indicates that farmers are borrowing to meet their recurring expenditure needs, rather than funding long-term investments. Figure 11: Flow of institutional credit availed by agricultural sector (in Rs lakh crore) [...] Table 7: Allocation towards agricultural credit schemes (in Rs crore)