Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has hinted the federal government might extend the life of cheap loans for drought-stricken farmers in NSW and Queensland.
But any cost is likely to come out of committed drought-assistance funding.
Nationals MPs and farmers are keen for the concessional five-year loans to be stretched out to 10 or 15 years.
They also want the interest rate lowered from four per cent to below three per cent.
Mr Joyce, in Darwin for a conference on the development of Northern Australia, would not directly comment on the request.
But he said it was "obviously logical" that if there were areas where drought assistance was not being used, consideration should be given the areas where it could be used.
"We have certain parts of our nation that are not drawing on these facilities and other parts ... that have fully drawn," he told reporters.
Nationals MP Mark Coultan says parts of his northwestern NSW electorate of Parkes are in their third year without a crop.
"This year will be the worst because I don't think there'll be any grain out there to harvest at all," he told ABC radio.
Cryon farmer Tom O'Brien, who described the dry spell as a one-in-100 year drought, says it will take a long time for farmers to recover.
"I don't think it's a handout," he said about the call for extended loans.
"We're not asking for a cash payout. It's just assistance to keep us in the game."
