Scheme for Supply of Improved Seeds for Fodder

What is the Scheme for Supply of Improved Seeds for Fodder?

Scheme for Supply of Improved Seeds for Fodder is a Gujarat state scheme run by the Directorate of Animal Husbandry under the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. According to the scheme listing on the Government of India's myScheme portal, the scheme supplies improved quality fodder seed to registered livestock keepers in the state.

The problem the scheme addresses is a real one for Gujarat. Gujarat holds one of the largest bovine populations in India and its dairy co-operative network is among the country's strongest, but green fodder availability is the binding constraint on milk yield in large parts of Saurashtra, Kachchh and North Gujarat. A buffalo fed mainly on dry crop residue produces measurably less milk than the same animal fed a green fodder ration. Improved fodder varieties, such as the high-yielding sorghum, maize, bajra, lucerne and multi-cut grass types promoted by the Directorate, give more green biomass per unit of land and water than a farmer's saved seed.

Rather than paying cash, the scheme puts the input itself in the farmer's hands at a subsidised rate. Seed is procured through the state's institutional channels, including the Gujarat State Seed Corporation and the Gujarat Livestock Development Board network, and distributed through the animal husbandry machinery at district and taluka level.

What the scheme is designed to achieve

• Raise the area under cultivated green fodder in the state.
• Replace low-yielding farm-saved fodder seed with certified improved varieties.
• Reduce the cost of milk production for the small livestock keeper, whose largest recurring expense is feed.
• Improve animal health and reproductive performance, which follow directly from a better ration.

Who is eligible for the fodder seed scheme?

You can be considered if:

• You are a resident of Gujarat who keeps livestock, typically milch cattle or buffaloes.
• You hold cultivable land in your own name, shown in the 7/12 and 8-A land records, on which the fodder will be sown.
• You are registered on the iKhedut portal, or you complete registration at the time of applying.
• You hold an Aadhaar-linked bank account, needed wherever any part of the assistance is settled by direct benefit transfer.
• You apply while the component window is open for your district.

You cannot apply if:

• You have no land record in your own name. A landless livestock keeper, tenant or sharecropper is not eligible under the individual component, because the seed is issued against land on which it will be sown.
• You are not a resident cultivator of Gujarat.
• You have already drawn seed under the same component in the same season beyond the quantity limit fixed for one beneficiary.
• Your application falls outside the announced window, or the district's physical target for the season is already exhausted.

Institutional applicants, gaushalas, panjrapoles, dairy co-operative societies and registered fodder producer groups, are handled under separate institutional components of the Animal Husbandry programme, not under the individual farmer route described here. Check the institutional component list on iKhedut if you are applying on behalf of an organisation.

How much benefit does the fodder seed scheme give?

The benefit is subsidised improved fodder seed, not a cash payment. Two numbers govern what you actually receive, and both are notified afresh each year with the state budget:

1. The rate of subsidy on the seed — the share of the seed cost the state bears, with the beneficiary paying the balance.
2. The quantity ceiling per beneficiary, usually expressed in kilograms of seed or in terms of the area it will sow.

This guide deliberately does not quote a single rupee figure. Fodder seed rates change with the variety, the procurement price of the season and the budget provision, and a farmer who plans around a figure copied from an unofficial site usually finds it wrong. Open the component on iKhedut when the window is live, read the rate and the quantity limit for the exact variety, and keep a screenshot.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the fodder seed scheme on iKhedut

1. Check that the window is open. Go to ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and open the schemes section for the Animal Husbandry department. Fodder seed components appear only while the seasonal window announced by the department is running.
2. Choose your applicant status. The portal asks whether you already have an iKhedut registration number or are a new applicant. New applicants complete registration with Aadhaar and land details first.
3. Select the fodder seed component and the variety offered, and read the subsidy rate, the quantity ceiling and any conditions shown on that component page.
4. Fill the application form with your personal details, village, survey number, land area from the 7/12, livestock details where asked, and bank account number and IFSC exactly as printed in your passbook.
5. Submit the application, note the application number, and then confirm it on the portal. An unconfirmed application is not treated as filed.
6. Print the submitted application, sign it, attach self-attested copies of the 7/12 and 8-A, Aadhaar and bank passbook, and deliver it to the taluka veterinary or animal husbandry office within the period stated on the printout.
7. Collect the seed from the distribution point named in your sanction, on the date notified, paying the beneficiary share against a receipt.

How to check your application status

Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and use the application status option, entering your application number and the details the portal prompts for. The status moves through submitted, confirmed, received at the taluka office, sanctioned, and seed issued. Two failure points account for most complaints. First, an application that was submitted but never confirmed online simply stops there. Second, an application whose signed printout never reached the taluka office does not exist as a file on the ground, however complete the online record looks.

Why fodder seed applications get rejected

• Application not confirmed on the portal after submission.
• Printed application not delivered to the taluka veterinary or animal husbandry office within the stated period.
• Land record mismatch, the name on the 7/12 differs from the Aadhaar name, or the land is jointly held without a consent form from the other holders.
• Quantity limit already used in the same season.
• Target exhausted for the taluka. Seed distribution runs against a fixed physical quantity, and applications beyond it are returned even when the applicant is fully eligible.
• Incorrect bank details, where any part of the benefit is paid by DBT.
• Applied in the wrong season. A variety meant for kharif sowing is not distributed in the rabi window.

Help and grievance redressal

• Village and taluka level: the Veterinary Officer or Livestock Inspector at the taluka veterinary dispensary, who receives the printed application and verifies it.
• District level: the Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry at the district panchayat, for delays, target questions and distribution complaints.
• State level: the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Gujarat, doah.gujarat.gov.in, and the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, agri.gujarat.gov.in.

Applying is free. No dealer, seed agent or middleman may charge a commission on subsidised fodder seed, and the beneficiary share is payable only against a proper receipt at the official distribution point.