Sanrakshit Kheti Yojana (Protected Cultivation Scheme - RKVY)

What is Sanrakshit Kheti Yojana?

Sanrakshit Kheti Yojana, the protected cultivation scheme, is run by the Directorate of Horticulture under the Agriculture Department, Government of Bihar, with funding routed through the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and the horticulture mission. The scheme pays half the cost of putting up a shade-net house, polyhouse or plastic tunnel, so that a farmer can grow high-value vegetables and flowers out of season and out of the weather.

According to the Directorate of Horticulture, the scheme pays a 50 percent subsidy on the notified unit cost of the structure. For rose cultivation inside a shade net, a unit cost of Rs 426 per square metre has been notified, giving a subsidy of Rs 213 per square metre, and the component has been run in 11 districts including Patna, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Begusarai, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Purnia and Samastipur.

The logic of protected cultivation is simple and Bihar-specific. The state's open fields are punished twice a year: by hail and thunderstorms in the pre-monsoon weeks, and by waterlogging in the monsoon. A shade net or polyhouse takes a capsicum or gerbera crop out of that risk, extends the growing season at both ends, and lets a farmer sell into the window when open-field produce is not available and prices are highest. That price window is where the return on the structure actually comes from.

What the scheme supports

• Naturally ventilated polyhouses; steel frame with UV-stabilised film.
• Shade-net houses, steel or bamboo frame with 35 to 50 percent shade net.
• Walk-in tunnels and low plastic tunnels for off-season vegetables.
• Planting material for the crop grown inside, in components where it is bundled with the structure.

Who is eligible for the protected cultivation subsidy?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer in Bihar with a plot in a district notified for the component in the current year.
• You hold a 13-digit DBT Agriculture registration number.
• You have land records in your own name, or a long-tenure registered lease if you farm as a non-ryot.
• Your plot has an assured year-round irrigation source capable of feeding a drip and fertigation system.
• You hold an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in your own name.
• You can fund 50 percent of the structure cost yourself, since the government share is reimbursed after completion.

You cannot apply if:

• Your plot has no assured irrigation. This is a hard technical bar for protected cultivation.
• You hold no land record and no registered lease, or your lease is too short to justify a structure with a ten-year life.
• Your district is not notified for the component that year.
• You cannot bring the beneficiary share. The department does not build the structure and recover money later.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, since release is by DBT only.
• You have already been sanctioned a structure on the same plot under this or another protected cultivation scheme.

How to apply for Sanrakshit Kheti Yojana

1. Register at dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in and note your 13-digit DBT Agriculture registration number. It is free.
2. Confirm the land record in your DBT profile carries the correct khata, khesra, village and area.
3. Obtain a written quotation from an empanelled or approved protected cultivation vendor for the structure size you want.
4. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in, go to the Scheme Dashboard, and select the protected cultivation component for the current financial year.
5. Enter your DBT registration number so the form loads your verified details.
6. Choose the structure type, the area in square metres and the crop you intend to grow inside.
7. Upload Aadhaar, land records or registered lease, irrigation proof, bank passbook, the vendor quotation and, if applicable, your caste certificate.
8. Submit and save the application number on the confirmation screen.
9. After sanction, get the structure built by the vendor, pay against a GST invoice in your own name, and request physical verification.
10. The district horticulture office measures the structure and releases 50 percent of the notified unit cost by DBT.

How to apply with help at a district office

1. Visit the Assistant Director (Horticulture) at your district agriculture office.
2. Carry Aadhaar, land papers, irrigation proof, bank passbook, the vendor quotation and your DBT registration number.
3. Ask the office to file the online application on your behalf: there is no separate paper route.
4. Ask the same office which vendors are currently empanelled. Choosing an unapproved vendor is a frequent and expensive mistake.
5. Collect the printed acknowledgement with your application number.

What a farmer actually spends

Subsidy is calculated on the notified unit cost per square metre, not on the vendor's price. If your vendor quotes above the notified rate, the difference is yours. If a vendor quotes far below it, inspect the steel gauge and the film grade before signing. An underbuilt polyhouse collapses in the first Bihar nor'wester and no subsidy covers that.

How to check your application and payment status

1. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in and go to the scheme dashboard.
2. Use the application status link for the protected cultivation component.
3. Enter your DBT registration number or application number.
4. The status shows submitted, sanctioned, structure verified, or subsidy released.

Payments shown as released but not credited are almost always a bank problem on the DBT Agriculture profile, correct the account there.

Why protected cultivation applications fail

• No assured irrigation on the plot.
• Short lease tenure for non-ryot applicants, since the structure outlives the lease.
• Structure built before sanction. Work started ahead of approval is not reimbursable.
• Invoice not in the beneficiary's name, or a handwritten bill without GST details.
• Measured area smaller than claimed at verification, which cuts the sanction proportionately.
• Sub-standard structure: wrong film thickness, undersized frame or missing anti-insect net, recorded by the inspecting officer.
• District target exhausted for the year, which is common because unit costs are high and each sanction consumes a large share of the target.

Key dates and planning ahead

The component opens in a notified window each financial year on the Scheme Dashboard. Because a structure has to be erected and verified inside the same financial year for the subsidy to be released, the practical window for building is short. Farmers who already have a vendor quotation, an irrigation source and the beneficiary share arranged before the window opens are the ones who actually complete the cycle. Watch horticulture.bihar.gov.in and the Bihar Krishi mobile app for the announcement.

Grievance and contact route

• Directorate of Horticulture, Bihar: 0612-2521772
• Email: dir-bhds-bih@nic.in
• District level: Assistant Director (Horticulture), district agriculture office; sanctioning and verifying authority
• Kisan Call Centre: 1800-180-1551

Applying is free. Be especially careful with vendors under this scheme: the sums are large, and the commonest complaint in Bihar's protected cultivation components is a structure delivered below specification by a vendor who was paid in full in advance. Pay in stages, against the invoice, and only after the sanction letter is in hand.