Scheme on Promotion of Use of Liquid Fermented Organic Manure (LFOM) for Increasing Organic Carbon in Soil

What is the Gujarat LFOM promotion scheme?

The Scheme on Promotion of Use of Liquid Fermented Organic Manure (LFOM) for Increasing Organic Carbon in Soil is a scheme of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme subsidises the purchase and field application of Liquid Fermented Organic Manure by land-holding farmers, with the stated aim of raising soil organic carbon on Gujarat's farmland.

Liquid Fermented Organic Manure is a by-product of compressed biogas (CBG) and biogas plants. When cattle dung, press mud, crop residue or municipal organic waste is digested to produce biogas, what remains is digestate. The solid fraction of that digestate becomes Fermented Organic Manure (FOM); the liquid fraction, processed to specification, becomes LFOM. On 27 March 2025 the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare amended the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985 to create a new Schedule VIII "Organic Carbon Enhancer" category and notify formal specifications for FOM and LFOM. That amendment is what turned LFOM from an informal farm input into a regulated fertiliser product that a state government can subsidise and a dealer can legally sell against an invoice.

The Gujarat scheme sits in that policy space. Gujarat has a large and growing CBG sector, and a state priority on Prakritik Kheti (natural farming) and reduced chemical fertiliser dependence. Subsidising LFOM use does two things at once: it creates farm-gate demand for a CBG plant by-product that would otherwise be a disposal problem, and it puts organic carbon back into soils that have been under intensive irrigated cropping for decades.

Key objectives

• Raise organic carbon content in Gujarat's agricultural soils.
• Reduce the proportion of plant nutrition met by straight chemical fertiliser.
• Create a stable market for LFOM produced by biogas and CBG plants in the state.
• Improve soil water-holding capacity, which is the binding constraint on yield in Gujarat's semi-arid districts.

Main features

• State scheme delivered through the iKhedut single-window portal.
• Benefit paid as a subsidy by Direct Benefit Transfer against a verified purchase.
• Restricted to land-holding farmers with land recorded in their own name.
• Purchase must be of an FCO Schedule VIII compliant LFOM product.

Why soil organic carbon matters in Gujarat

Soil organic carbon is the single best proxy for soil health. Carbon-rich soil holds more water per unit depth, releases nutrients slowly instead of leaching them, supports microbial life that makes phosphorus available, and resists crusting and erosion. Semi-arid soils, which cover most of Gujarat outside the south, naturally sit at low organic carbon because high temperatures oxidise organic matter quickly and because dry-season biomass return to the soil is small.

Decades of irrigated cotton, groundnut and wheat cropping, with fertiliser applied but crop residue removed or burnt, push organic carbon lower still. The consequence a farmer notices is not a laboratory number. It is soil that dries out faster between irrigations, needs more water per irrigation, and gives declining response to the same fertiliser dose. Adding a carbon source such as LFOM addresses the cause rather than the symptom.

LFOM is not a substitute for nitrogen and phosphate fertiliser. The Fertiliser Control Order classifies organic carbon enhancers under a separate schedule from straight and complex fertilisers precisely because their function is different. The intended practice is a reduced chemical dose combined with an organic carbon input, not a wholesale switch.

Who is eligible for the LFOM scheme?

You are eligible if:

• You are a resident farmer of Gujarat.
• Agricultural land is recorded in your own name on the 7/12 extract.
• You hold an Aadhaar number and a bank account in your own name.
• You buy LFOM from a registered manufacturer or dealer and obtain a GST invoice identifying the product grade and quantity.
• You apply within an open iKhedut window and within the area limit set for the scheme.

You cannot apply if:

• Your name does not appear on a 7/12 land record. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and landless agricultural labourers are not eligible.
• You bought the product from an unregistered seller, or hold no invoice.
• The product bought is not an FCO-compliant LFOM, a general liquid bio-fertiliser or a home-made slurry does not qualify.
• You are applying as a firm or trading entity rather than an individual land-holding farmer.
• The application window has closed or the district target is exhausted.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the LFOM scheme on iKhedut

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in while the Agriculture Schemes window is open. iKhedut opens scheme windows for defined periods and closes them once the budget for the year is committed.
2. Select Schemes, then Agriculture Schemes (Khetivadi ni Yojanao), and locate the LFOM / organic carbon entry in the current scheme list.
3. Choose registered or not registered applicant. A first-time applicant selects "not registered" and completes the farmer registration.
4. Fill the form with Aadhaar number, mobile number, district, taluka, village, survey number, area to be treated, LFOM quantity and bank account details.
5. Confirm and submit, and record the application number displayed. The form cannot be edited after confirmation.
6. Print the application, sign it, attach self-attested copies of the documents including the LFOM invoice, and submit the set to your taluka agriculture office.
7. Allow the Gram Sevak or Vistaran Adhikari to verify the purchase and, where required, inspect the field where the LFOM was applied.
8. The approved subsidy is credited to your bank account by DBT.

How to apply without internet access

1. Use your village e-Gram centre or Village Computer Entrepreneur, who files iKhedut applications for farmers during open windows.
2. Alternatively, ask at the taluka agriculture office or a common service centre to enter the application on your behalf.
3. Carry Aadhaar, the 7/12 extract, the bank passbook and the LFOM invoice — the form cannot be completed without those.

How much subsidy does the scheme give?

The Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department fixes the LFOM subsidy rate for each financial year, and publishes it on the iKhedut scheme page along with any per-hectare or per-farmer ceiling for the year. A permanent rupee figure is not published for this component, so a farmer should read the rate on the live iKhedut scheme entry before buying, rather than relying on a figure quoted second-hand.

For context on how organic manure is supported nationally, the Government of India's Market Development Assistance introduced in June 2023 pays Rs 1,500 per tonne to biogas and CBG plants marketing FOM, LFOM and PROM. That assistance goes to the plant, not to the farmer, and is separate from the Gujarat state subsidy, a farmer cannot claim it.

How to check your application status

1. Open the Application Status page on ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in.
2. Enter your application number and the confirming detail requested.
3. Read the stage: submitted, verification at taluka, approved, or payment released.
4. If nothing has moved for several weeks during an active window, contact the taluka agriculture office with the application number.

Common reasons LFOM claims are rejected

• Printed application never submitted to the taluka agriculture office after online filing.
• Invoice from an unregistered seller, or an invoice that does not name the FCO grade of the product.
• Product is not FCO Schedule VIII LFOM but a general liquid bio-input.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the 7/12 record and the bank account.
• Applicant not on the land record.
• District or state target exhausted for the financial year.

Key dates and grievance route

Gujarat opens iKhedut agriculture scheme windows financial year by financial year, most often ahead of the kharif season, and does not publish a standing year-round deadline for this component. Check the portal home page at the start of the financial year.

For grievances, escalate through the Gram Sevak or Vistaran Adhikari, then the Taluka Agriculture Officer, then the District Agriculture Officer, and finally the Directorate of Agriculture, Gandhinagar. Filing an iKhedut application is free; no agent may charge for it, and no official will ask for your Aadhaar OTP.