Provide Assistance to Farmers Bringing Goods to Market Committees for Cost of Goods Transportation (Tribal)

What is the transport cost assistance for tribal farmers?

Provide Assistance to Farmers Bringing Goods to Market Committees for Cost of Goods Transportation is a component run under Gujarat's Tribal Area Sub-Plan by the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, with the Tribal Development Department as the funding and monitoring arm. The component reimburses part of the freight a scheduled tribe farmer pays to move farm produce from the village to an APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) market yard.

According to the Tribal Development Department, Gujarat has a tribal population of 89.17 lakh, and the state allocates 14.75 per cent of its budget to tribal programmes. The tribal belt runs along the eastern hill districts, where villages are far from the nearest regulated market. That distance is the whole reason this scheme exists.

The problem it addresses

A farmer in a remote tribal village who takes a small lot of produce to an APMC yard pays for a hired vehicle out of pocket, before knowing what price the lot will fetch. On a small quantity, the freight can eat a large share of the sale value. The rational response is to sell at the village gate to whoever turns up, at whatever price is offered. That is exactly the outcome the regulated market system was created to prevent.

What the component does

• Reimburses a notified share of the freight actually paid to reach an APMC yard.
• Makes the regulated market a viable option for small lots from remote villages.
• Pushes sales into a system where the produce is weighed, recorded and sold by open auction, rather than at a village-gate price.
• Pays through Direct Benefit Transfer into the farmer's own account.

Who is eligible for this scheme?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a scheduled tribe and hold a valid ST caste certificate.
• You are a resident farmer of Gujarat, ordinarily in a Tribal Area Sub-Plan taluka.
• You hold land in your own name, evidenced by 7/12 and 8-A records, and the produce is from that land.
• You sold the produce through a recognised APMC market committee and hold the sale or weighment slip.
• You paid freight and hold the transporter's receipt.
• You have a bank account in your own name for the DBT credit.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not from a scheduled tribe. The component is funded from the Tribal Area Sub-Plan and non-tribal farmers are not eligible under it, though Gujarat runs parallel agriculture components for other categories.
• You are a trader, commission agent or aggregator moving produce you did not grow.
• You sold outside the APMC system, at the village gate or to a private buyer, with no market committee record.
• You have no freight receipt, or the vehicle was your own and no transport cost was actually incurred.
• The land records do not carry your name and no consent letter from the recorded holders is filed.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the transport assistance

1. Keep the paperwork at the time of sale. Collect the APMC sale or weighment slip at the market yard and a written freight receipt from the vehicle owner, with the date, route and amount. Reconstructing these later is the single hardest part of the claim.
2. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Schemes section, then the agriculture scheme list. Locate the component for transport cost assistance for bringing goods to market committees and click Apply.
3. Register or sign in. Indicate whether you are already a registered farmer on iKhedut; if not, register with your details and set a password using OTP verification on your mobile number.
4. Fill the application: survey number, crop, quantity carried, market committee name, date of sale, freight paid, bank account details and Aadhaar number, and submit it.
5. Confirm the application. An unconfirmed application is not treated as filed at all.
6. Print the confirmed application, sign it, and attach self-attested copies of the caste certificate, 7/12 and 8-A, Aadhaar, bank passbook, APMC slip and freight receipt.
7. Submit the signed printout with documents at your taluka agriculture office (Village Extension Officer / Taluka Agriculture Officer) within the days stated on the acknowledgement, and keep the stamped receipt.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the taluka agriculture office, a Gram Panchayat e-Gram centre or a Village Computer Entrepreneur and ask them to file the iKhedut application on your behalf.
2. Carry the caste certificate, Aadhaar, 7/12 and 8-A, bank passbook, APMC sale slip, freight receipt and your mobile phone for the OTP.
3. Collect the printed application, sign it, and hand it in at the taluka office counter against a receipt.

Even the assisted route ends in an iKhedut record — there is no parallel paper-only sanction.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and select Application status (arji ni sthiti).
2. Enter the application number with your registered mobile number or Aadhaar number and submit.
3. The screen shows whether the application is confirmed, whether the taluka office has received the physical copy, and whether sanction has been issued.
4. After sanction, check your bank statement. If nothing is credited weeks later, ask the taluka agriculture office for the file number and the DBT release date.

Why claims get rejected

• No APMC sale slip, so there is no independent proof the produce reached the yard.
• Freight receipt missing or informal, with no date, route or transporter name.
• Caste certificate not attached or issued in another state.
• Application not confirmed on iKhedut, or the physical copy not submitted in time.
• Name mismatch across Aadhaar, bank account, land record and the APMC slip.
• Quantity claimed higher than the APMC record, which the taluka office cross checks.
• Budget exhausted for the taluka or district, in which case a valid claim is held pending or carried forward.

Where to get help

• iKhedut portal: ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in; component list, application and status.
• Taluka Agriculture Officer and Village Extension Officer, the first stop for a stuck application.
• Tribal Development Department, Gandhinagar: 079-232-57703, Block No. 2, 5th Floor, New Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar 382010, open 10:30 a.m. to 6:10 p.m.
• Kisan Call Centre: 1800-180-1551, toll free.
• The APMC secretary at your market yard, if the sale slip or weighment record needs to be reissued.

Applying is free, and the reimbursement is credited only to the farmer's own bank account.