Wire Fencing Around the Farm for Crop Protection

What is the Wire Fencing Around the Farm for Crop Protection scheme?

Wire Fencing Around the Farm for Crop Protection is a scheme of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat, applied for on the iKhedut portal. The scheme pays part of the cost of putting a wire fence around farmland so that wild and stray animals cannot get in and destroy a standing crop. Farmers in Gujarat commonly refer to it as the tar fencing scheme, after the Gujarati word for wire.

The damage this scheme addresses is the kind that does not show up in drought or price statistics but ruins individual farmers. Nilgai, wild boar and stray cattle can flatten a groundnut or gram field in a few nights. Many farmers respond by sleeping in the field through the season, which is neither safe nor sustainable, or by giving up on the crops most at risk. A fence removes the problem permanently, but a good fence costs a lot per metre and no single small farmer can justify it against one season's crop.

Key features

• Assistance of Rs 200 per running metre or 50 per cent of actual cost, whichever is less.
• Once in a lifetime benefit, for a maximum of one land account.
• Minimum of 2 hectares in a cluster, individually or as a farmer group.
• Excludes anyone who has already taken the Solar Fencing Scheme benefit.
• Applied for online on iKhedut, including through Common Service Centres.
• Open to forest-area farmers holding a Van Adhikar Patra or Sanad.

How much does the wire fencing scheme pay?

The "whichever is less" clause is the part that decides what a farmer actually receives, and it works in both directions.

If your fence costs Rs 300 per metre, 50 per cent is Rs 150, and Rs 150 is less than the Rs 200 ceiling, so you receive Rs 150 per metre. If your fence costs Rs 500 per metre, 50 per cent is Rs 250, but the Rs 200 ceiling is lower, so you receive Rs 200 per metre. In other words the Rs 200 figure is only reached once the fence costs at least Rs 400 per running metre, and below that the 50 per cent rule governs.

Because the assistance is measured per running metre of fence, the shape of the plot matters as much as its size. A long, narrow holding has far more perimeter per hectare than a square one, which is a substantial reason why the scheme encourages neighbouring farmers to fence a cluster together: a block of contiguous plots has a much shorter total perimeter than the same plots fenced individually, and every metre saved is money that does not have to be spent.

Who is eligible for the wire fencing scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a land-holding farmer, or a farmer group, in Gujarat.
• The land to be fenced is at least 2 hectares in a cluster, that is a contiguous block rather than scattered parcels.
• You are named in the 8-A land record, and where the account has several holders you have the written consent of the others.
• You are a forest-area cultivator holding a Van Adhikar Patra or Sanad, which the scheme accepts in place of an ordinary revenue record.
• You hold a bank account in your own name.

You cannot apply if:

• You have already availed the Solar Fencing Scheme benefit. This exclusion is stated explicitly and is the single most important thing to check before filing.
• Your holding is under 2 hectares and you are applying alone rather than as part of a group with a 2-hectare cluster.
• You have already claimed wire fencing assistance. It is a once-in-a-lifetime benefit.
• You are trying to claim against a second land account. A farmer is eligible for assistance for a maximum of one account.
• You are one of several 8-A holders without the others' consent, in which case you are not eligible to take the benefit on that account.
• You have no land record and no forest rights document.

What documents are required?

Land records can be downloaded free at anyror.gujarat.gov.in. Keep every scan legible and within the file-size limit the portal displays.

How to apply for the wire fencing scheme

1. Open the iKhedut portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in during the notified application window. You can do this yourself or through a Common Service Centre.
2. On the home page click Schemes (Yojanao), then Agricultural Schemes.
3. Find Wire Fencing Around the Farm for Crop Protection in the list and click Apply. The application page opens.
4. Click Apply New and fill in the form; personal details, survey numbers, the 8-A account, the length of fencing proposed in running metres and your bank account details.
5. Use Update Application to correct anything. Corrections are only possible before confirmation.
6. Confirm the application. Once confirmed it cannot be edited, so check the survey numbers and the metres carefully.
7. Print the confirmed application, sign it and keep it with photocopies of your 8-A record, Aadhaar, bank passbook and the consent letters from any joint holders.
8. Track it through the Applicant Corner at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in/public/frm_Applicant_Corner.aspx, which also lets you view, print and upload documents.

How a farmer group should approach it

The 2-hectare cluster condition makes this scheme unusually cooperative for a subsidy programme, and groups that plan before they file do much better than those that do not.

1. Agree the boundary first. Decide as a group exactly which contiguous plots are inside the fence, because the perimeter you agree determines the running metres claimed.
2. Sort out the 8-A consents. Every account with joint holders needs written consent from the holders who are not claiming, and collecting these after the window opens wastes days.
3. Get comparable quotations for the same specification of posts, wire and gates, so the 50 per cent calculation is based on a defensible cost.
4. Agree in writing who maintains the fence. A fence with an unclosed gate protects nobody, and the commonest cause of a group fence failing is that no single person is responsible for it.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and select the Applicant Corner.
2. Enter your application number and registered mobile number.
3. Read whether the application is pending, sanctioned or rejected.
4. If nothing moves for several weeks after the window closes, visit your taluka agriculture office with the printed application.

Why wire fencing applications get rejected

• Solar fencing already availed. The most common hard exclusion, and one that the department can check from its own records.
• Holding under 2 hectares, or plots that are not a contiguous cluster.
• Consent letters missing from joint holders on the 8-A account.
• Second claim on another land account, where only one account per farmer is allowed.
• Length of fencing claimed does not match the perimeter measured at field verification.
• Bank account name mismatch between the passbook, Aadhaar and land record.
• Target exhausted for the district in that financial year.

Where to get help

• Taluka agriculture office, first point of contact for the window, objections and status.
• District Agriculture Officer — for escalation when a taluka-level objection is not resolved.
• Common Service Centre or e-Gram VCE, for filing help if you cannot use the portal yourself.
• Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Gandhinagar (agri.gujarat.gov.in), for scheme resolutions and rates.

One decision is worth making before you file. Gujarat runs both a wire fencing and a solar fencing scheme, and taking one closes the door on the other. Solar fencing deters animals with a pulsed shock and is cheaper per metre to erect but needs maintenance, a working panel and battery, and someone to keep the line clear of vegetation. Wire fencing costs more up front and needs almost no maintenance. Choose on the basis of what your land, your animals and your willingness to maintain equipment actually require, not on which subsidy opens first.