Scheme to Increase Seed Replacement Rate (SRR)

What is the Scheme to Increase Seed Replacement Rate?

Scheme to Increase Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) is a seed distribution programme of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat, delivered through the Directorate of Agriculture and listed on the iKhedut portal under Agricultural Schemes. The scheme supplies certified seed of notified field crop varieties to farmers at subsidised rates, and is supported under the centrally sponsored National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and NFSM-Oilseeds.

The idea behind it is one of the least glamorous and most reliable levers in Indian agriculture. Most farmers keep back part of a harvest to sow the next season. That saved seed is free, but it degrades; germination falls, genetic purity drifts, and seed-borne disease carries forward from one crop to the next. Replacing it periodically with certified seed of a recent variety typically lifts yield by a useful margin with no change in irrigation, fertiliser or labour. The share of area sown with fresh certified seed is called the seed replacement rate, and raising it across the state is exactly what this scheme is named after.

Key features

• In-kind benefit, certified seed, not a cash transfer.
• Covers field crops notified for the season, including pulses, cereals and oilseeds under NFSM and NFSM-Oilseeds.
• Open to all farmers resident in Gujarat, with no published income ceiling.
• Filed online on iKhedut, with a signed printout submitted at the taluka office.
• Runs on a seasonal window for kharif and rabi rather than all year.

What exactly does the scheme give you?

The benefit line published for this scheme is short and specific: certified seeds are distributed to eligible farmers. Three things follow from that wording, and they matter more than any single rupee figure.

First, the seed is certified, not merely "good". Certified seed in India is produced under a formal chain; breeder seed, foundation seed, then certified seed, and is inspected in the field and tested in the laboratory for germination, physical purity and genetic purity before a certification tag is attached. The tag on the bag is the document that proves it. Keep it.

Second, the benefit is in kind. You receive seed at a subsidised price at an authorised outlet rather than a payment in your account. The subsidy element on a given crop and variety is fixed by the department for that season and is generally higher for varieties released within the last ten years, because the whole point is to move farmers onto newer genetics.

Third, the quantity is bounded. Seed goes out against a per-hectare norm for each crop and against a district allocation. A farmer with a large holding will not automatically receive seed for the entire area, and applications compete for a fixed quantity.

The department does not publish a single headline rupee amount for this scheme, because the subsidy differs by crop, by variety age and by the season's rates. Ask at the taluka agriculture office or read the component text on iKhedut for the current season's per-quintal or per-kilogram rate on the crop you want.

Who is eligible for subsidised certified seed?

You can apply if:

• You are residing in Gujarat.
• You are a farmer and can produce a land record for the area you intend to sow.
• You grow one of the notified crops covered in the season's seed plan.
• You have a bank account registered on iKhedut, needed where a component is paid as reimbursement.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a resident of Gujarat, or the land you intend to sow lies outside the state.
• You cannot produce a land record or any other document establishing that you farm.
• You want seed of a crop or variety not notified for the season — the scheme covers only what is in that season's plan.
• You are applying outside the notified window. A late applicant is not eligible for that season, though nothing stops a fresh application next season.
• You are a trader or seed dealer seeking stock. The scheme distributes seed to cultivators for sowing, not for resale.

Non-eligibility for this scheme does not mean no support at all. The Directorate of Agriculture runs parallel seed and input components on iKhedut, including sub-plan windows for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers, and the right step is to open the Agricultural Schemes list for the current season and read which component fits your case.

What documents are required?

How to apply for certified seed under the SRR scheme

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in during the season's application window.
2. If you are new to the portal, click Login, then Beneficiary Registration, and choose Farmer as the beneficiary type.
3. Select your district, taluka and village, state what kind of account holder you are, enter your bank account number and name, solve the captcha and click Save and Next.
4. Enter your mobile number and email, click Send OTP, enter the OTP, set and confirm a password, solve the captcha and Submit.
5. Log in, click Schemes, then Agricultural Schemes, find the seed distribution or seed replacement rate component and click Apply.
6. Click Apply New, then fill in personal details, survey number, area to be sown, the crop and variety you want and your bank details.
7. Use Update Application to correct anything, then confirm the application; once confirmed it cannot be edited.
8. Print the confirmed application, sign it and submit it with photocopies of all documents at the taluka agriculture office.
9. On approval, collect the seed from the authorised outlet named to you, pay the subsidised price and keep both the bill and the certification tag.

How to apply without using a computer

Scheme to Increase Seed Replacement Rate has no purely paper route. The application originates on iKhedut. Three options work in practice.

1. Use the Village Computer Entrepreneur (VCE) at the gram panchayat e-Gram centre.
2. Use a Common Service Centre or an authorised cyber café and collect the printout.
3. Ask the Gram Sevak or the taluka Extension Officer (Agriculture) to file it with you and tell you which crops are in this season's plan.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Applicant Corner.
2. Enter your application number and registered mobile number.
3. The screen shows whether the application is pending, approved or rejected, and lets you reprint it or upload documents.
4. Once approved, ask the taluka agriculture office which outlet is holding seed against your application and by when you must collect it; allocations lapse if unlifted.

Why seed applications get rejected or go unfulfilled

• Applied after the window closed. Seed windows are short because they are tied to the sowing calendar; a rabi application filed in January is of no use.
• Signed printout never submitted at the taluka office after online confirmation.
• Land record does not match the survey number entered on the form.
• Crop or variety not in the season's plan, so no allocation exists to draw against.
• District allocation exhausted, which is a shortfall rather than a rejection. The application is valid but no seed remains.
• Seed not lifted in time from the authorised outlet after approval.
• Bank account name mismatch, which blocks any reimbursement component.

Where to get help

• Taluka agriculture office. The first place to ask which crops are in this season's plan, what the per-hectare quantity norm is and which outlet holds stock.
• District Agriculture Officer for escalation when an approved allocation is not honoured.
• iKhedut Applicant Corner for login, application-number and upload problems.
• Mari Yojana (mariyojana.gujarat.gov.in), the state's citizen scheme directory, where this scheme is listed as scheme number 542.

Seed rates, the crop list and the window are re-notified every season, so read the component text on iKhedut for the current season before you plan your sowing. Treat any figure quoted by a dealer, and not by the department, as unverified.