Smart and Precision Farming Scheme: Subsidy on IoT Devices for Precision Agriculture

What is the Smart and Precision Farming scheme?

Smart and Precision Farming is a component run by the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat, offered to farmers through the i-Khedut portal. The component gives assistance towards buying IoT devices for precision agriculture. The connected sensing hardware that measures what is happening in a field and reports it, rather than leaving the farmer to judge by eye.

Precision farming in Gujarat, as the state's own digital-agriculture programme describes it, uses IoT and data analytics so that farmers get real-time information on soil moisture levels to set irrigation schedules, and guidance on fertiliser and pesticide application so that input is placed where it is needed instead of spread uniformly. The economic argument is straightforward: a soil moisture reading that says the root zone is still wet saves one irrigation, and on a borewell-irrigated cotton or groundnut plot that saving is measured in diesel or electricity and in water table.

The i-Khedut portal publishes an "IoT Device Unit Cost list for Smart and Precision Farming Scheme". That list is the operative document: it sets out the device categories admitted under the component and the unit cost against which assistance is calculated. Assistance is not open-ended. The published unit cost caps what the department will pay, whatever the invoice says.

Where does this scheme sit on i-Khedut 2.0?

i-Khedut is Gujarat's single-window farmer portal, in operation since 2014 and rebuilt as i-Khedut 2.0, which consolidates assistance from six departments: Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Water Conservation and allied wings, into one application system. Smart and Precision Farming (IoT Devices) appears in the Agriculture department's scheme list, alongside newer 2026-27 components such as the Kisan Drone purchase subsidy, the Agro Service Provider scheme, farm machinery banks and custom hiring centres.

Two practical consequences follow from being an i-Khedut component. First, applications open in notified windows, not continuously; the window covering this scheme in 2026-27 ran until 4 June 2026. Second, i-Khedut 2.0 has dropped username-password login for farmers: authentication is by Aadhaar OTP on the Aadhaar-linked mobile number, or by biometric.

Who is eligible for the Smart and Precision Farming scheme?

You are eligible if:

• You are a farmer resident in Gujarat with agricultural land recorded in your own name, shown on the 7/12 and 8-A extracts.
• You are registered on i-Khedut and your Aadhaar is linked to a working mobile number for OTP, or you can complete biometric authentication.
• You hold a bank account in your own name that is Aadhaar-seeded, since assistance is released by Direct Benefit Transfer.
• The device you intend to buy falls in a category on the current IoT Device Unit Cost list for the scheme.
• You apply within the notified window for the financial year.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You have no recorded land interest in Gujarat — a purely landless applicant has no survey number to attach the installation to.
• Your Aadhaar carries no mobile number and you cannot complete biometric verification; there is no offline-only workaround on i-Khedut 2.0.
• Your bank account stands in another person's name, including a spouse or parent.
• The device is outside the approved category list, or you are seeking reimbursement for a purchase already made before sanction.
• You apply after the window has closed for that year.

How to apply for the Smart and Precision Farming IoT subsidy

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Schemes (Yojana) section, then the Agriculture department list.
2. Check that the Smart and Precision Farming (IoT Devices) component shows as open. If the window is closed, the apply button will not appear.
3. Read the IoT Device Unit Cost list linked against the scheme, and note the device category and unit cost you will be claiming under.
4. Authenticate as a farmer using Aadhaar OTP on your Aadhaar-linked mobile number, or by biometric.
5. Fill in the application: district, taluka, village, survey number, area, and the device category selected.
6. Enter your bank account number and IFSC exactly as printed in the passbook.
7. Upload the documents: Aadhaar, 7/12 and 8-A, bank passbook page, and the supplier quotation or invoice for the device.
8. Submit, then use "Confirm Application". An application that is submitted but never confirmed is not forwarded for scrutiny.
9. Print the confirmed application with its application number, sign it, and submit it with self-attested copies at the taluka agriculture office if your taluka asks for a physical set.

Do not buy the device before you have the sanction or work order. Under i-Khedut components, pre-sanction purchases are normally not reimbursed, and this is the single most expensive mistake a first-time applicant makes.

How do I check my application status?

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and choose Application Status.
2. Enter your application number and the registered mobile number, then the captcha.
3. The screen reports the stage; submitted, confirmed, verified, sanctioned or paid.

Field verification by the Gram Sevak or Extension Officer (Agriculture) normally precedes sanction, and after installation an inspection may be made before the DBT is released. Keep the original invoice, warranty card and any installation certificate until the payment reaches your account.

Why i-Khedut applications for this scheme get rejected

• Application submitted but not confirmed on the portal.
• Aadhaar not linked to a working mobile number, so OTP authentication never completes and the application stays incomplete.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or a name mismatch between Aadhaar and the bank record, which fails the DBT credit even after sanction.
• Device outside the approved unit cost list, or an invoice that does not identify the device clearly enough to map to a category.
• Purchase made before sanction.
• Target for the taluka exhausted; i-Khedut components run against district-wise physical and financial targets, and a technically correct application can still be kept pending once the target is met.

Most of these are fixable in advance. Update the mobile number on Aadhaar, seed the bank account, and take a written quotation rather than a hand-written slip from the supplier.

Where to get help or complain

• Taluka Agriculture Officer / Extension Officer (Agriculture) at the taluka panchayat, the first stop for verification delays and rejections.
• District Agriculture Officer for grievances the taluka does not settle.
• Village Computer Entrepreneur (VCE) at the gram panchayat for assisted filing and status checks.
• The help section of ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in for portal, OTP and upload problems.

A note on what is and is not published

Gujarat publishes the operative numbers for this component in the IoT Device Unit Cost list on i-Khedut rather than in a widely circulated press note, and the list is revised year to year. This guide therefore does not state a percentage or a rupee ceiling: quoting a figure that has since changed would cost a farmer more than saying plainly that the rate must be read off the current list. Before buying anything, open the scheme page on i-Khedut during the open window, or ask the Taluka Agriculture Officer for the year's approved unit costs in writing.