Harvesting Tools Assistance for General Category (HRT-2)

What is Harvesting Tools Assistance for General Category (HRT-2)?

Harvesting Tools Assistance for General Category (HRT-2) is one component of the horticulture development programme administered by the Directorate of Horticulture, under Gujarat's Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department. HRT-2 is the department's scheme code; farmers encounter the component as a single line; harvesting tools: in the horticulture list on the iKhedut portal.

The component exists because harvesting is where a large share of horticultural value is lost. Fruit pulled by hand from a tall mango or sapota tree bruises; badly cut stems on vegetables and flowers shorten shelf life; and small farmers rarely buy proper harvesters, secateurs or pruning tools on their own account because a single tool costs more than one season's visible return. Harvesting Tools Assistance lowers that first cost so the tools reach the orchard.

The Directorate of Horticulture pays the assistance as a share of the purchase price, capped by a per-unit ceiling fixed in the department's annual administrative approval. Rates differ by tool and are revised from year to year, and they are shown against the component on the iKhedut page for the year in which the window opens. A farmer planning a purchase should read the rate on the portal for that year rather than rely on a figure carried over from an earlier season or quoted on a private website.

Assistance under this component is category-specific. The General Category component is one of a set: parallel components exist for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers, usually at a more generous rate, funded from separate sub-plan budgets.

Who is eligible for Harvesting Tools Assistance?

You can apply if:

• You are a General Category farmer in Gujarat, or a General Category farmer group, farmer producer organisation or co-operative society.
• You hold cultivable land in Gujarat recorded in your name on the 7/12 and 8-A, and you grow horticulture crops on it.
• You hold an active bank account able to receive Direct Benefit Transfer.
• You apply within the window the Directorate opens on iKhedut.
• You buy the tools only after written pre-approval is issued.

You cannot apply if:

• You belong to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category, such farmers are not eligible under this General Category component and should use the SC or ST component instead.
• You have no land record in Gujarat in your own name or the applying body's name.
• You have already purchased the tools before applying and before pre-approval.
• You are applying from outside Gujarat.
• You have taken assistance for the same tool within the department's prescribed repeat-benefit interval.

What documents are required?

Carry the originals when you submit the printed application; the taluka office verifies and returns them.

How to apply for Harvesting Tools Assistance

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, go to Schemes, then to Horticulture Schemes (બાગાયતી યોજનાઓ).
2. Select the Harvesting Tools component and read the HRT-2 instructions, including the assistance rate and ceiling notified for the current year.
3. Register or log in as a farmer using your Aadhaar number and mobile number.
4. Complete the application form, entering your survey number, the horticulture crop grown and the specific tools you intend to buy.
5. Submit online and record the application number displayed on screen.
6. Print and sign the application, attach copies of Aadhaar, 7/12, 8-A and the bank passbook, and submit the set at your taluka or district horticulture office within the days printed on the form.
7. Wait for pre-approval before buying anything.
8. Buy the tools, then lodge the original invoice with the same office so the subsidy can be released to your bank account.

How to apply with help from the horticulture office

1. Visit the taluka horticulture office, the district Deputy Director of Horticulture, or a Village Computer Entrepreneur, and ask them to make the iKhedut entry. Paper-only applications are not accepted, every case must exist on the portal.
2. Provide copies of your Aadhaar, 7/12, 8-A and bank passbook.
3. Sign the printed application and leave it with the office, keeping the application number for follow-up.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and choose the application status option.
2. Enter your application number and registered mobile number.
3. The result shows whether the application is pending, pre-approved, rejected or passed for payment.

The same menu also allows reprinting the application and uploading documents the office has asked for.

Why harvesting tools claims get rejected

• Tools purchased before pre-approval. The single commonest reason.
• Wrong category component, for example an SC or ST farmer applying under the General Category line.
• Printed application never submitted to the taluka office after the online entry.
• Land record mismatch between the survey number entered and the 7/12.
• Invoice defects — missing GST details, a supplier not recognised by the Directorate, or an invoice date earlier than the pre-approval date.
• Annual target exhausted, since each iKhedut component runs against a fixed physical and financial target for the year.
• Bank account inactive or name mismatch, which holds up the transfer even after sanction.

Help and grievance redressal

• Taluka horticulture office; documents, pre-approval and file status.
• District Deputy Director of Horticulture: sanction and payment disputes.
• Directorate of Horticulture, Gandhinagar; state-level authority for HRT-2, reachable through doh.gujarat.gov.in.
• iKhedut portal; ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in for status, reprints and the rates in force this year.

Applying costs nothing. Nobody is authorised to charge a fee for securing an iKhedut horticulture subsidy on your behalf.