Scheme to Provide Financial Assistance to Purchase Solar Power Unit/Kit for Solar Fencing around the Farm

What is the solar fencing financial assistance scheme?

The Scheme to Provide Financial Assistance to Purchase Solar Power Unit/Kit for Solar Fencing around the Farm is run by the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat, and delivered through the state's iKhedut portal.

Crop damage by stray cattle, nilgai and wild boar is a recurring loss for Gujarat farmers, and physical fencing across a whole holding is expensive. A solar fencing kit. A solar panel, battery, energiser and control unit that sends a brief non-lethal pulse through a perimeter wire: is a cheaper deterrent that runs without a grid connection. This scheme subsidises the solar power unit component of that setup.

According to the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, the scheme pays 50 percent of the actual expenditure or Rs 15,000, whichever is less, for a solar power unit or kit. The department records a minimum time limit of 10 years before the same beneficiary can reclaim the benefit.

The department's stated objectives are to prevent crop destruction, raise agricultural productivity, and improve the use of resources on the farm.

Who is eligible for the solar fencing subsidy?

Individual farmers can apply if:

• The applicant is a farmer with land recorded in their name.
• The applicant belongs to the State of Gujarat.

Joint landholders:

• Only one landholder named in the 8-A land record is eligible for the benefit on that holding.
• The selected landholder must hold the written consent of all other joint landholders.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You have already taken assistance under the Wire Fencing Scheme. The Agriculture Department lists this as an express exclusion — a wire fencing beneficiary is not eligible for the solar power unit subsidy.
• You have already claimed this component within the last 10 years.
• You are a joint holder other than the one selected on the 8-A record for that holding. Two joint holders cannot both draw the subsidy on the same land.
• You are trying to claim for a second landholding account. Assistance is limited to one landholding account per farmer.
• You are not a farmer of Gujarat.

Farmers cultivating in forest areas are covered, but must produce a Van Adhikar Patra or Sanad as their title document instead of a conventional revenue record.

What documents are required for the solar fencing scheme?

The iKhedut portal may ask for additional documents depending on the component and the district, so keep the originals of all of the above ready when you visit the taluka office with the printed application.

How to apply for the solar fencing subsidy on iKhedut

1. Visit the iKhedut portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in.
2. Complete beneficiary registration first. Since the iKhedut 2.0 upgrade, the portal requires every beneficiary to register before applying, and Aadhaar verification is done through an OTP sent only to the mobile number linked to Aadhaar.
3. On the home page, click Schemes, then Agricultural Schemes.
4. Select the solar power unit / solar fencing scheme and click Apply. The application page opens.
5. Click Apply New and fill in the application with your land details, bank details and personal details.
6. Use Update Application if you need to correct anything before confirming.
7. Confirm the application once it is complete. An application that is saved but never confirmed is not considered submitted.
8. Take a printout of the confirmed application.
9. Submit the printed application with the supporting documents to the concerned taluka office (Taluka Agriculture / Extension office) within the time allowed.

How to apply if you cannot use the portal yourself

1. Visit your Gram Sevak or Village Level Extension Officer, who handles iKhedut applications for farmers in the village.
2. Carry your Aadhaar card, 8-A land record, bank passbook and a passport photograph, along with the Aadhaar-linked mobile phone for OTP.
3. Ask the officer to complete the beneficiary registration and the application on iKhedut on your behalf.
4. Collect the printed confirmed application and submit it at the taluka office with the documents.

The Agriculture Department names the Gram Sevak, the Extension Officer and the District Agriculture Officer as the contacts for farmers who need help with the scheme. iKhedut also publishes a public contacts page listing office-wise numbers.

How much assistance is paid?

Two limits matter in practice. First, the Rs 15,000 ceiling means a kit costing more than Rs 30,000 still attracts only Rs 15,000, the 50 percent rule applies below that point and the flat cap applies above it. Second, the subsidy is reimbursed against actual expenditure, so the purchase invoice must be genuine and in the beneficiary's name; the amount is not released in advance.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in/public/frm_Applicant_Corner.aspx, the Applicant Corner.
2. Enter your application number and the required identifiers.
3. From the same page you can view, print and upload application details, which is also where you attach any document the taluka office asks for later.

Keep the confirmed application number safe. Without it the Applicant Corner cannot retrieve the file, and reconstructing it means going back to the taluka office.

Common reasons applications get rejected

• Application saved but never confirmed on iKhedut, so it never enters the queue.
• Printed application not submitted to the taluka office with the documents.
• Wire Fencing Scheme benefit already taken, which is an express exclusion.
• No consent letter from the other joint holders on the 8-A record.
• A second application by another joint holder for the same land, or a second application by the same farmer for a different landholding account.
• Claim inside the 10-year interval since the last solar power unit benefit.
• Aadhaar-linked mobile number not working, so the registration OTP cannot be completed. This blocks the application at the very first step under iKhedut 2.0.
• Bank account name mismatch, which stops the credit after approval.

Key dates and how the iKhedut window works

The Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department does not run this scheme on a single fixed annual last date. iKhedut opens component-wise application windows through the year, tied to the budget allotted to each component and to the cropping calendar; a component closes once its window ends or the allocation is exhausted.

The practical advice is therefore to check the Schemes → Agricultural Schemes list on ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in periodically rather than waiting for an announcement, and to complete beneficiary registration in advance so that you can apply on the day the window opens.

Help and grievance redressal

• iKhedut public contacts page: ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in/Public/frm_Public_Contacts.aspx lists office-wise contact details for farmers.
• Village and taluka level: Gram Sevak and the Taluka Extension Officer.
• District level: the District Agriculture Officer, named by the Agriculture Department as the contact for scheme queries.
• Department: Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat; agri.gujarat.gov.in.

Applying on iKhedut is free of cost. No fee is payable to any officer, and no agent can secure the solar fencing subsidy on a farmer's behalf.