AGR-61 Agro Service Providers for the Purpose of Making Farming More Profitable With the Help of Farm Mechanization

What is the AGR-61 Agro Service Providers scheme?

AGR-61 Agro Service Providers for the Purpose of Making Farming More Profitable With the Help of Farm Mechanization is a state scheme of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat, delivered through the Directorate of Agriculture and the district and taluka agriculture offices, with applications routed through the i-Khedut portal.

The problem AGR-61 addresses is straightforward. Tractors, rotavators, seed drills, threshers, harvesters and sprayers cut the cost and time of field operations, but a small holding cannot justify buying them. AGR-61 therefore subsidises an agro service provider unit, a set of implements owned by a cooperative society, a farmer group, a self-help group or a qualified agriculture graduate, who then hires them out to farmers in the surrounding villages. In everyday use in Gujarat these units function as custom hiring centres, and the scheme is often referred to by that name.

According to the scheme's published norms, the assistance is:

The staggered release is deliberate. The scheme is meant to create a service that keeps running, so the later instalments depend on the unit still operating and still serving farmers, not just on the machinery having been purchased once.

The assistance is available once in a lifetime for an eligible applicant.

Who is eligible for AGR-61?

Bodies that can apply:

• Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS)
• Farmer groups
• Farmer producer companies (FPOs/FPCs)
• Cooperative institutions engaged in agriculture
• Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Sakhi Mandals, registered with the competent authority

Individuals who can apply must hold one of these agricultural qualifications:

• Diploma in Agriculture
• Graduate in Agriculture
• Postgraduate in Agriculture
• Bachelor of Rural Studies (B.R.S.)

Who cannot apply:

• A farmer with no agricultural qualification is not eligible as an individual applicant. That farmer can still benefit by joining a cooperative society, farmer group, FPO or SHG that applies as a body.
• Applicants from outside Gujarat are not eligible; AGR-61 is a state scheme for applicants resident in Gujarat.
• An applicant who has already availed the AGR-61 agro service provider unit benefit cannot apply again, because the benefit is once in a lifetime.
• Unregistered groups are not eligible. A farmer group, SHG or Sakhi Mandal must produce a registration certificate.
• Traders and equipment dealers are not eligible. The unit must be run as an agricultural service for farmers, not as a commercial dealership.

Approval also depends on the physical and financial target for the district in that year. Applications are taken up in order of receipt subject to funds and targets, so an eligible application is not an automatic sanction.

What documents are required for AGR-61?

Keep both the online-submitted set and a physical set. The taluka agriculture office verifies the originals before the pre-approval order is issued.

How to apply for AGR-61 on i-Khedut

1. Open the i-Khedut portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in from a browser.
2. Click Schemes, then Agricultural Schemes (Khetivadi ni Yojanao) from the list of scheme groups.
3. Find the agro service provider component under farm mechanisation and click Apply. The application page opens.
4. Choose Apply New if you are a first-time applicant, or Update Application if you are correcting a draft you already saved.
5. Fill in the applicant details, the district, taluka and village, your land details, bank account details and the implements you propose to buy.
6. Upload or record the supporting documents as prompted, then Confirm the application. An unconfirmed application is not treated as submitted.
7. Print the confirmed application and submit the signed printout with the supporting documents to your taluka or district agriculture office within the time the portal states.
8. Wait for the pre-approval order before you buy the implements, then submit the purchase invoices for the first-year instalment.

How to apply offline and who to approach

1. Visit the taluka agriculture office or the district Deputy Director of Agriculture's office and ask for the AGR-61 agro service provider component under farm mechanisation.
2. Ask the Village Level Extension Worker or the Gram Sevak to help complete the i-Khedut entry, since submission is through the portal even when the assistance is offline.
3. Submit the printed application with document copies and collect the acknowledgement.

Applications can also be filed at a Common Service Centre or a Village Computer Entrepreneur operating an i-Khedut counter, which is the usual route where the applicant has no internet access.

How to check your i-Khedut application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Applicant Corner (frm_Applicant_Corner.aspx).
2. Enter your application number and the registered mobile number or Aadhaar number as prompted.
3. Use the same screen to view, print or re-upload application documents.
4. For a sanctioned case, follow up with the taluka agriculture office on the pre-approval order and, later, on each year's instalment.

Why AGR-61 applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

• The individual applicant has no agricultural qualification. This is the single most common misunderstanding: an ordinary farmer applying alone will be rejected. Apply through a registered group instead.
• Machinery bought before sanction. Expenditure incurred before the pre-approval order can be held ineligible.
• The application was never confirmed on i-Khedut, so it does not exist in the queue.
• Printed application not submitted to the agriculture office within the stated period, or submitted without a signature.
• Bank account mismatch. The account name must match the applicant; subsidy is released by direct transfer.
• Group registration certificate missing for a farmer group, SHG or Sakhi Mandal.
• Target exhausted for the district that year. This is not a defect in the application, and re-applying in the next window is the remedy.
• Duplicate claim, where the applicant has already drawn the once-in-a- lifetime benefit.

What the later instalments depend on

Because AGR-61 pays across five years, a sanctioned applicant should plan for verification in each of those years. The unit is expected to remain in working condition and in use as a service to farmers. Records of hiring, who used which implement, on what date, for what area and at what charge — are the simplest evidence to keep, and they also help the agriculture office confirm that the unit is doing what the scheme funded it to do. Where a unit is sold, abandoned or diverted to non-agricultural use, the remaining instalments do not follow.

Related Gujarat farm mechanisation schemes

AGR-61 sits within a wider family of Gujarat farm mechanisation schemes run by the same department on the same portal. AGR-2 covers farm mechanisation assistance for farmers other than SC and ST farmers, and AGR-3 covers ST farmers. Individual farmers who do not qualify under AGR-61 will usually find that the AGR-2 or AGR-3 route, which subsidises implements for a farmer's own use rather than a hiring service, is the correct one for them. All three are applied for on i-Khedut under the Agricultural Schemes menu.

Help and where to complain

• i-Khedut portal: ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, including the Applicant Corner for status and the public contacts page for district-wise numbers.
• Directorate of Agriculture, Gujarat: dag.gujarat.gov.in publishes the scheme list, the Government Resolutions and the district office directory.
• Taluka and district agriculture offices handle verification, sanction and instalment release, and are the first place to raise a delay.

There is no fee for applying on i-Khedut. No agent can guarantee a sanction, and the scheme's targets and order of receipt; not any intermediary, decide which applications are taken up.