A Program to Provide 90 Percent Assistance in Planting Material of Horticultural Fruit Crops

What is the 90 percent planting material assistance programme?

This programme is a horticulture component of the Government of Gujarat run by the Directorate of Horticulture under the Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation. It meets 90 percent of the cost of planting material for horticultural fruit crops, so that a farmer converting a plot to an orchard pays only about a tenth of the plant cost himself.

The reason for such a high assistance rate is specific to fruit growing. A fruit orchard is a long-gestation investment: a mango or sapota planting yields nothing for the first several years, and the whole cost of grafts, saplings and tissue culture plants is paid up front. That gap deters small farmers from switching from seasonal field crops to horticulture even where their soil and water suit it better. Paying almost the entire planting material cost removes the single largest first-year outlay.

The programme is delivered exclusively through iKhedut, the Gujarat government's farmer portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, which hosts the schemes of the Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries directorates in one place. Nothing about this scheme can be claimed outside iKhedut.

Typical fruit crops covered by Gujarat's horticulture planting programmes include mango, sapota (chikoo), guava, papaya, pomegranate, citrus such as lime and mosambi, banana, custard apple, ber and aonla. The exact crop list, the per-hectare cost norm and the maximum area allowed per farmer are notified component-by-component each year on the portal, so read the component text on iKhedut before you plan the plot.

Who is eligible for the fruit crop planting assistance?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer resident in Gujarat.
• You hold cultivable land in your own name, evidenced by the 7/12 and 8-A extracts. A jointly held survey number needs the written consent of the other holders.
• The plot you propose to plant is suitable for the fruit crop chosen and has an assured source of irrigation. Fruit plantings without water do not survive the first summer, and field staff check this.
• You will buy the planting material from a nursery recognised by the department and can produce the bill.
• You have a bank account seeded with your Aadhaar number, because the assistance is paid by Direct Benefit Transfer.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not hold land in your own name. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers are not eligible, because the claim is validated against the land record.
• You have already planted the orchard, or bought the plants, before pre-approval was issued.
• You are claiming for the same survey number and the same component for which assistance was already drawn within the cooling-off period the component specifies.
• You buy from an unrecognised nursery or cannot produce a proper bill.
• The component window is closed on iKhedut, or the year's physical target for your district is already exhausted.

Components reserved for Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe farmers under the sub-plans require the corresponding caste certificate; a general-category farmer cannot apply under those and must use the general component instead.

What documents are required?

Keep the originals with you when the horticulture extension officer visits for field verification.

How to apply for the 90 percent planting material assistance

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Schemes (Yojana) section.
2. Choose Horticulture schemes, then find the component for planting material of fruit crops and read the component conditions, the cost norm and the maximum area allowed.
3. Click Apply. Answer whether you are a registered farmer on iKhedut. If you are, log in with your registration number; if not, choose the new applicant route and enter your details afresh.
4. Fill in the application: village, taluka, district, survey number, area to be planted, the fruit crop and variety, the number of plants, source of irrigation, caste category if claiming a sub-plan component, Aadhaar number, and bank name, branch, IFSC code and account number.
5. Save the application and note the application number. Then use Confirm Application. An unconfirmed application is never processed, and once confirmed it cannot be edited.
6. Print the confirmed application, sign it, attach self-attested copies of the 7/12 and 8-A extracts, Aadhaar, bank passbook and caste certificate where applicable, and submit the set to your Taluka or District Horticulture Office within the period shown on the acknowledgement.
7. Wait for pre-approval (purva manjuri). Buy the planting material only after the office issues it, and only from a recognised nursery.
8. Plant the material, then submit the nursery bill and any other claim papers to the Horticulture Office. After field verification of the planted area, the assistance is released by DBT to your bank account.

How to apply if you cannot use the portal yourself

1. Visit your village e-Gram centre, a Common Service Centre, or the Taluka Horticulture Office, carrying Aadhaar, 7/12 and 8-A extracts and your bank passbook.
2. Ask the operator to file the iKhedut application for you, and check the crop, area and bank details on screen before it is confirmed.
3. Collect the printed application, sign it, and submit it with the document set at the Taluka or District Horticulture Office.
4. Note the application number on your own copy, you need it for every follow-up.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and select the application status option.
2. Enter your application number and the verification details the portal asks for.
3. The status shows whether the application is confirmed, received at the office, pre-approved, or rejected with a reason.
4. After you submit the bill, the same screen and your bank SMS confirm the DBT credit.

If the status is stuck at "confirmed" long after the window has closed, the printed application probably never reached the office. Take a fresh printout and submit it in person.

Why claims fail, and how to avoid it

• Buying before pre-approval. This is the commonest and the most expensive mistake, because there is no way to regularise it afterwards.
• Application saved but not confirmed on iKhedut, so it never entered the queue.
• Printout never submitted to the Horticulture Office within the stated period.
• Nursery not recognised, so the bill cannot be accepted.
• Land record mismatch — the survey number in the application not matching the 7/12 extract, or a joint holding filed without the co-holders' consent.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails and bounces back.
• Area planted less than the area claimed, found at field verification.
• Target exhausted for the district before your file was taken up. Nothing is wrong with the application in that case; apply early in the next window.

Key dates

Gujarat notifies horticulture components on iKhedut component by component, each financial year, rather than keeping them open continuously. Fruit-crop planting components are normally opened ahead of the planting season so that pre-approval and purchase can be finished before the monsoon planting. The portal displays the opening and closing dates against each component and stops accepting applications when the window shuts or the target fills, whichever comes first. Check iKhedut at the start of the financial year and again before the monsoon.

Where to get help or raise a grievance

• Taluka Horticulture Office / District Horticulture Officer. The first point for application status, pre-approval and field verification questions.
• Directorate of Horticulture, Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation, Gandhinagar, at doh.gujarat.gov.in, which publishes head office and regional district office contacts.
• iKhedut portal help section at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in for login, OTP and upload problems.
• Kisan Call Centre, 1800-180-1551, the national toll-free farmer helpline, for general agronomic advice on the fruit crop you are planting.

Applying is free. No officer or agent can charge a commission for sanctioning your assistance, and the money is paid only into your own bank account.