Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to ensure that their overall direct lending to farmers should not fall below the average of last three years. In a notification issued from Mumbai, the RBI said that the government has expressed concerns over adverse impact of any reduction in direct credit given the adverse weather conditions. The RBI has warned, the banks falling below target will attract usual penalties.The apex bank has said that banks should also continue to maintain efforts to reach the level of 13.5 percent direct lending to beneficiaries who earlier constituted the direct agriculture sector. In an effort to increase direct lending to agriculture, the RBI had recently revised the target for lending to small and marginal farmers under priority sector norms to 7 per cent for 2015-16 and to 8 per cent for 2016-17.The target for direct lending by banks to agriculture under priority sector norms are aimed to increase the flow of credit directly to farmers. Also, the distinction between direct and indirect agriculture has been dispensed with and loans to food and agro processing units will form part of agriculture. Banks' overall target for agriculture stands at 18 per cent.