Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana (Badhbandi)

What is Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana, known locally as Badhbandi, is a Himachal Pradesh state scheme that subsidises fencing around farmland. The Department of Agriculture runs it, and its purpose is stated bluntly on the departmental page: crops in the state suffer significant damage from monkeys and wild animals, and this scheme pays most of the cost of keeping them out.

The scheme has a history worth knowing, because the name has changed twice. Himachal Pradesh launched the Mukhyamantri Crop Protection Scheme in 2016-17. From 2022-23 that scheme was merged into Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana and renamed "Solar Fencing". Farmers and older documents still use the earlier names, Mukhyamantri Khet Sanrakshan Yojana and Mukhyamantri Fasal Sanrakshan Yojana appear widely, but the current scheme in the Department of Agriculture's own list is Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana.

Since 2023-24 the subsidy has been 70 per cent. The farmer contributes the remaining 30 per cent of the approved cost.

Key features

• 70 per cent state subsidy on the cost of an approved fencing unit.
• Four fencing types allowed, so a farmer picks what suits the terrain and the animal pressure.
• Solar units are erected by departmentally registered service providers, removing the risk of a badly built solar fence.
• Sanction is unit-based, against an annual physical and financial target for each block.
• Rs 15 crore provisioned for 2025-26.

What kinds of fencing does the scheme cover?

The Department of Agriculture allows four fencing types under Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana, and the farmer chooses "based on their requirement":

That split matters when you are planning. If you opt for a solar option, you are not buying and installing equipment yourself and then claiming money back, the department's registered service provider does the work, and the subsidy is settled against that execution. If you opt for interlink chain or barbed wire, you do the work yourself to the department's specification and the department inspects it.

Solar fencing works by delivering a short, safe electric pulse that deters monkeys, wild boar, nilgai and stray cattle without harming them. It is the option normally recommended where monkey pressure is the main problem, because a plain barbed wire fence does very little against monkeys. Interlink chain and barbed wire are more suitable against cattle and larger ungulates, and are cheaper where the boundary is long and animal pressure is moderate.

Who is eligible for Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer in Himachal Pradesh cultivating land recorded in the revenue record.
• Your crops are being damaged by monkeys, wild animals or stray cattle. This is the whole basis of the scheme.
• The field to be fenced is under actual cultivation.
• You can bear the farmer's share, 30 per cent of the approved cost.
• You are part of a group of adjoining farmers fencing a common boundary. Group fencing is well suited to Himachal's small, fragmented holdings.

You cannot apply, or your case will not be sanctioned, if:

• You cannot produce a land record for the field. Ownership or recorded cultivation is the starting point of every file.
• The land is disputed, encroached or shamlat land without clear rights.
• You have already erected the fence before sanction. A subsidy scheme with a physical inspection cannot verify pre-existing work, and retrospective claims are not entertained.
• You farm outside Himachal Pradesh. This is a state-budget scheme.
• The land is not under cultivation, a fallow or built-up plot is not what the scheme protects.
• You want fencing for a non-agricultural purpose such as a boundary wall around a house site.

There is no published caste, income or gender restriction on eligibility for this scheme. What limits access in practice is the annual target: each block gets a physical and financial target, and once it is exhausted, remaining cases wait for the next year's allotment.

What documents are required for Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana?

How to apply for Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana

1. Meet your Agriculture Extension Officer at the circle level or the Subject Matter Specialist at the block agriculture office and describe the field, its area, the boundary length and the kind of animal damage you face.
2. Decide the fencing type with the officer: solar, solar-interlinked chain, interlink chain or barbed wire — based on the terrain, boundary length and whether monkeys or cattle are the main problem.
3. Submit the application with your jamabandi, tatima, Aadhaar, bank passbook and Himachali certificate, and get a diary number for the file.
4. Wait for the field inspection. A departmental officer measures the boundary and confirms the area, which fixes the approved cost and therefore the 70 per cent subsidy.
5. Receive the sanction against the block's annual target. Do not start work before this; work done before sanction is not covered.
6. For solar options, the registered service provider appointed by the department erects the fence. For interlink chain or barbed wire, erect the fence yourself exactly to the departmental specification.
7. Get the completed work verified by the department and complete the subsidy settlement, paying your 30 per cent share.

How to check the status of your fencing application

1. Note the diary number given when you submitted the application and quote it every time you follow up.
2. Ask the block agriculture office where the file stands; awaiting inspection, awaiting sanction, or awaiting target.
3. Contact the District Agriculture Officer if the file has been pending at block level for an unreasonable period.
4. Call the Department of Agriculture toll-free line 1800-180-1551, or the Directorate at 0177-2830162 or 0177-2830618, or email krishibhawan-hp@gov.in.

How much has the scheme delivered?

The Department of Agriculture publishes recent performance figures for the scheme, which give a realistic sense of scale:

• 2024-25: expenditure of Rs 200 lakh, covering 954.78 hectares, establishing 1,102 units and benefiting 1,522 farmers.
• 2025-26: a budget provision of Rs 15 crore.

Two things follow from those numbers. First, the sharp rise from Rs 2 crore spent to Rs 15 crore provisioned suggests a substantially larger target for 2025-26, which is a good year to apply. Second, the ratio of 1,522 farmers to 1,102 units confirms that a meaningful number of units serve more than one farmer, that is group fencing of a common boundary, and it is the most cost-effective way to use the scheme on small Himachali holdings.

Why do fencing applications get rejected or delayed?

• Work started before sanction. The most common self-inflicted rejection. The department has to inspect the site before approval; a fence already standing cannot be sanctioned retrospectively.
• Land record does not match. The jamabandi shows a different name, or a pending mutation, or a smaller area than claimed.
• Boundary dispute with a neighbour, which stalls the file until the dispute is settled, since a fence fixes a physical line on the ground.
• Block target exhausted. Not a rejection, the case carries forward to the next financial year's allotment.
• Beneficiary share not deposited, holding up execution by the service provider.
• Fence not built to specification in self-executed interlink chain or barbed wire cases, so the verification fails.
• Bank account details wrong, delaying settlement even after the work passes verification.

Where do I complain about a fencing subsidy case?

• District Agriculture Officer of your district, the first appellate point above the block office.
• Directorate of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, Boileauganj, Shimla, phone 0177-2830162 and 0177-2830618, email krishibhawan-hp@gov.in.
• Toll-free 1800-180-1551 for the Department of Agriculture.
• e-Samadhan and CM Helpline 1100, the Himachal Pradesh government's general grievance channels, for a complaint that the department has not acted on.

The department also operates under the Himachal Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Act, and a service listed under that Act carries a time limit, worth asking your block office whether the fencing sanction is a notified service, because that gives you a defined escalation route rather than an open-ended wait.

No fee is payable for applying under Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana. Only the beneficiary's 30 per cent share of the approved fencing cost is payable, and it is paid against the sanctioned work, never to an agent.