Distribution of Seeds of More Productive/Hybrid Varieties and Fertilizer at Subsidy to Adivasi Farmers in Tribal Area: Castor Cake / Neem Cake / Liquid Fermented Organic Manure / Green Manure Seed

What is the Distribution of Seeds and Fertilizer at Subsidy scheme for Adivasi farmers?

Distribution of Seeds of More Productive/Hybrid Varieties and Fertilizer at Subsidy to Adivasi Farmers in Tribal Area is a state-funded agriculture input subsidy run by the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. The component covered by this guide pays for four specific soil inputs: castor cake, neem cake, liquid fermented organic manure, and green manure seed meant to be mixed into the soil.

The scheme sits inside Gujarat's Tribal Area Sub-Plan (TASP), the budgeting mechanism the state uses to earmark development funds in proportion to the Scheduled Tribe population. Gujarat's Tribal Development Department describes TASP as the route through which line departments, including agriculture, ring- fence money for tribal beneficiaries rather than leaving them to compete in open-category schemes.

The purpose is narrow and practical. Tribal farming belts in Gujarat, running through Dahod, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Tapi, Dang, Valsad and Navsari, are dominated by rainfed smallholdings with low organic carbon in the soil. Oil cakes and green manure raise organic matter and improve moisture retention, but a bag of castor cake or neem cake is a real cash cost for a farmer holding one or two hectares. Paying 75% of the bill removes that barrier.

Key features

• State scheme, delivered entirely through the i-Khedut portal.
• Subsidy released by Direct Benefit Transfer into the farmer's own bank account, against an original purchase bill.
• Benefit is capped per account, not per family member.
• Restricted to Scheduled Tribe cultivators.

Who is eligible for this tribal input subsidy?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Gujarat and hold a caste certificate from a competent revenue authority.
• You cultivate agricultural land in Gujarat, either inside a notified tribal- area taluka or as a tribal cultivator residing outside a tribal area.
• The 7/12 and 8-A land records carry your name. Joint holders can apply with the written consent of the other co-owners.
• You hold a bank account in your own name for the DBT credit.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You do not hold a Scheduled Tribe certificate. This component is funded from the Tribal Area Sub-Plan and is closed to other categories, who must use the general-category organic input components on i-Khedut instead.
• Your name does not appear on any land record. Pure agricultural labourers with no recorded holding cannot claim the per-hectare subsidy.
• You have already drawn the same component for the same survey number in the same year. The benefit is once per account per year.
• You bought the input before receiving the pre-approval order, in which case the bill is normally rejected.
• You are claiming for more than two hectares. Area beyond two hectares attracts no subsidy at all.

How much money does the scheme give?

The rule is always "whichever is less". A farmer who spends Rs 8,000 per hectare on neem cake receives 75% of Rs 8,000, that is Rs 6,000, not the full Rs 9,000 ceiling. A farmer who spends Rs 15,000 per hectare receives Rs 9,000, because the ceiling bites before the percentage does.

For the oil-cake component the maximum a single account can draw is therefore Rs 18,000, being Rs 9,000 per hectare across two hectares. Payment reaches the farmer only after the department verifies the bill, so the farmer funds the purchase up front and is reimbursed.

What documents are required?

Keep the original bill. Photocopies are accepted for the file only after the taluka office has seen and stamped the original.

How to apply for the tribal seed and manure subsidy online

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and choose Yojanao (Schemes), then the Kheti vadi (Agriculture) group.
2. Find the component for castor cake, neem cake, liquid fermented organic manure or green manure seed under the tribal-area heading, and check that it shows as open. Components are opened for a limited window each year.
3. Select Apply and answer whether you are a registered applicant. A first- time applicant chooses "No" and completes fresh registration with Aadhaar, mobile number, district, taluka and village.
4. Fill in the application: survey number, area in hectares, caste category, bank account number and IFSC.
5. Submit the form and then confirm it. An unconfirmed i-Khedut application is not forwarded for scrutiny and lapses silently, which is the single most common reason farmers find their file missing.
6. Print the confirmed application, sign it, attach the caste certificate, land records and bank passbook copy, and submit the set to your taluka agriculture office or the village e-Gram centre within the days stated on the printout.
7. Wait for the pre-approval (purvamanjuri) order, then buy the input and submit the original bill to the same office for the subsidy to be released.

How to apply offline

1. Visit your village e-Gram centre and ask the Village Computer Entrepreneur to file the i-Khedut application on your behalf.
2. Carry the Aadhaar card, ST caste certificate, 7/12 and 8-A extracts and bank passbook. The VCE fills the same online form; there is no separate paper scheme.
3. Collect the printed application, sign it, and hand the set to the Taluka Agriculture Officer or the Extension Officer (Agriculture) at the taluka panchayat.
4. Ask for the acknowledgement with your application number and keep it.

The Gram Sevak and the taluka-level Extension Officer (Agriculture) are the two officials who actually move the file, so they are the right people to follow up with.

How do I check my application and payment status?

1. Return to ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and open the Application Status option.
2. Enter your application number and the registered mobile number, then submit.
3. The screen shows one of four stages: submitted, scrutiny, pre-approved, or paid.
4. If the status stays at "submitted" for weeks, check first whether you completed the confirm step. If it is confirmed, ask the taluka agriculture office to trace it by application number.

Payment credit can be confirmed in your bank passbook. DBT credits are shown against the agriculture department's remitter name, not the scheme name, so look for the amount rather than the wording.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Application submitted but never confirmed on i-Khedut. Reapply during the next window and complete the confirm step.
• Name mismatch between the land record, Aadhaar and the bank account. Get the revenue record corrected at the e-Dhara centre before reapplying.
• Bill dated before the pre-approval order. Buy only after pre-approval.
• Area claimed above two hectares. Only the first two hectares carry a subsidy; claim only that.
• Caste certificate not from a competent authority, or an expired format. Obtain a fresh certificate from the Mamlatdar.
• Component budget exhausted. Gujarat opens these components against a fixed annual outlay. Applying early in the window materially improves the odds.
• Bank account not active or not seeded with Aadhaar, so the DBT fails and bounces back.

Where do I complain if something goes wrong?

Escalation runs through the agriculture line department rather than a scheme helpline. Start with the Taluka Agriculture Officer, then the District Agriculture Officer, and then the Joint Director of Agriculture for your region. i-Khedut also carries a query and feedback link on the portal footer for written grievances about the online application itself.

No fee is payable at any stage. The i-Khedut application, the pre-approval and the subsidy release are all free, and no middleman has authority to promise approval in exchange for a cut of the subsidy.