Makhana Vikas Yojana (Bihar)

What is Makhana Vikas Yojana?

Makhana Vikas Yojana is a horticulture subsidy scheme of the Directorate of Horticulture under the Agriculture Department, Government of Bihar, built around makhana. The fox nut or gorgon nut that Bihar produces in larger quantity than any other state in India. Bihar accounts for the overwhelming share of national makhana output, most of it from the ponds and low-lying fields of Mithila and Seemanchal, and Mithila Makhana carries a Geographical Indication tag.

Makhana Vikas Yojana subsidises 75 per cent of the cost of makhana cultivation against a departmental unit cost of Rs 97,000 per hectare, which comes to about Rs 72,750 per hectare of assistance. Separate components cover improved seed production, seed distribution and post-harvest storage.

The main components and their rates

• Area expansion / makhana cultivation; unit cost Rs 97,000 per hectare, 75 per cent subsidy of about Rs 72,750 per hectare, for bringing new area under makhana.
• Improved variety seed production, the same 75 per cent rate, for producing seed of the improved varieties Sabour Makhana-1 and Swarna Vaidehi, which yield substantially more than traditional local seed.
• Seed distribution, about 75 per cent of a roughly Rs 5,400 seed cost, working out to around Rs 4,050, so a farmer switching to improved seed pays only a fraction of the price.
• Makhana storage unit of 5 tonnes — unit cost about Rs 10 lakh, 75 per cent subsidy up to about Rs 7.5 lakh, so that farmers can hold stock instead of selling immediately after harvest at the lowest price of the year.

The department's stated production goal behind the scheme is to lift makhana yield from roughly 16 quintals per hectare to about 28 quintals per hectare by shifting farmers from traditional to improved seed. The Directorate of Horticulture also lists dozens of makhana collection and storage units created under the programme.

Who is eligible for Makhana Vikas Yojana?

A farmer can claim the subsidy if:

• The farmer is a resident of Bihar and cultivates or intends to cultivate makhana in a notified district. The core districts are Katihar, Purnia, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Kishanganj, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, Saharsa and Khagaria, with area expansion extended in recent years to districts including Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran and West Champaran.
• The proposed area is between 0.25 acre and 10 acres. In tighter years the department has capped the maximum at 5 acres, so read the cap shown on the application screen.
• The farmer holds a DBT Agriculture registration number from dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in.
• The land or pond is owned by the applicant, or held on a written lease. Leased water bodies are normal in makhana and a lease deed is accepted.
• The farmer has an Aadhaar-seeded bank account to receive the DBT payment.

A farmer is not eligible if:

• The land lies outside the districts notified for that component in the current year. Each component has its own district list, and a district covered for seed distribution may not be covered for storage units.
• There is no DBT Agriculture registration. The horticulture portal will not open an application form without it.
• The applicant cannot produce ownership papers or a valid lease for the plot.
• The same plot has already drawn the subsidy in the same financial year under this or another horticulture scheme. Double subsidy on one plot is not allowed.
• The bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, in which case the transfer will fail even after sanction.

Makhana Vikas Yojana provides for roughly 30 per cent participation by women farmers, applied at the selection stage when applications exceed the district target.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Makhana Vikas Yojana online

1. Register on dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in if you do not already have a DBT Agriculture number. Choose the farmer registration option, complete Aadhaar authentication, enter your bank details and note the 13-digit registration number generated.
2. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in, the Directorate of Horticulture portal, or install the Bihar Krishi app from the Play Store and open the horticulture section.
3. Select Makhana Vikas Yojana from the scheme dashboard and choose the component you want, area expansion, improved seed production, seed distribution or storage unit.
4. Enter your DBT registration number. Your name, address, bank details and district are fetched automatically from the DBT database, so check them for accuracy rather than retyping.
5. Fill in the area in hectares or acres and the plot details; khata, khesra and thana number for the plot on which makhana will be grown.
6. Upload the land record or lease deed, the photograph and the bank passbook page, then submit the application and save the acknowledgement number.
7. Wait for verification. The block horticulture officer or the Assistant Director (Horticulture) inspects the plot, and after satisfactory verification the subsidy is released by DBT.

Applications open in an annual window announced by the Directorate. For the 2025-26 season, applications were accepted until 15 January 2026. Because the window moves each year, and because districts often fill their physical target before the closing date, applying in the first weeks of the window is a real advantage.

How to apply offline or with help

1. Visit your block Agriculture Office or the Assistant Director (Horticulture) at the district, carrying your Aadhaar, land papers and bank passbook.
2. Ask the Kisan Salahkar or Coordinator attached to your panchayat to complete the DBT registration and the online application on your behalf. The scheme is online-only in filing, so what an office does is enter the same form for you.
3. Collect the acknowledgement number and keep it, since all follow-up runs on that number.
4. Use a Common Service Centre if no agriculture office is close by. A CSC can file the same online form for a small notified fee.

How is the subsidy paid and when?

Makhana Vikas Yojana releases the subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer into the Aadhaar-seeded bank account tied to the applicant's DBT registration. Payment follows physical verification, not application. For cultivation components, the block officer confirms that makhana has actually been planted on the declared plot; for a storage unit, the completed structure is inspected and measured before the claim is passed.

In some years the department releases the cultivation subsidy in stages, for example a first-year instalment of about Rs 36,375 per hectare followed by the balance, because makhana cultivation costs are incurred across a season. Read the sanction letter for your own year rather than assuming a single credit.

How do I check my application or beneficiary status?

1. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in and go to the beneficiary list section.
2. Use the Makhana Vikas Yojana beneficiary list page, which the Directorate publishes at HortMIS/Status_BeneficiaryList/MakhanaVikasList.aspx, and filter by district and block.
3. Search with your DBT registration number or application number to see whether your file has been accepted, verified or paid.
4. If the portal shows the payment as released but nothing has reached your account, take a printout to your bank branch. The usual cause is a broken Aadhaar seeding rather than a missing sanction.

Why makhana subsidy applications fail

• No DBT Agriculture registration, or a registration whose bank details are stale. Update the account on the DBT portal before applying.
• District not notified for the component applied for. Check the current-year district list on the horticulture portal for that specific component.
• Land record does not match the applicant's name, particularly on inherited land where mutation is pending. Complete the mutation or attach the lease deed.
• District target already exhausted. Applications beyond the physical target are held over even if eligible, which is why early filing matters.
• Verification failed because makhana was not actually planted on the declared plot, or the storage unit was not completed to specification.
• Aadhaar not seeded with the bank account, so the DBT credit bounces.

Where do I get help?

• Directorate of Horticulture headquarters, Patna to 0612-2547772, email dir-bhds-bih@nic.in, for scheme and payment queries.
• Assistant Director (Horticulture) in your district, for verification and target-related issues.
• Block Agriculture Officer and the panchayat-level Kisan Salahkar, for registration and application help.
• Bihar Krishi app, which carries the same scheme dashboard and status screens as the portal.

No fee is payable for applying under Makhana Vikas Yojana. The subsidy reaches the farmer's own account directly, so no agent needs to be paid to "release" it, and no official will ask for your Aadhaar OTP over the phone.