Aushadhi Avam Sugandhit Fasal Kshetra Vistar Yojana (Medicinal and Aromatic Crop Area Expansion Scheme, Madhya Pradesh)

What is Aushadhi Avam Sugandhit Fasal Kshetra Vistar Yojana?

Aushadhi Avam Sugandhit Fasal Kshetra Vistar Yojana, the Medicinal and Aromatic Crop Area Expansion Scheme, is run by the Horticulture and Food Processing Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The scheme meets part of the cost of planting notified medicinal and aromatic crops, so that farmers can move a piece of their holding out of ordinary field crops and into a higher-value, buyer-driven crop without carrying the full planting risk themselves.

Madhya Pradesh has real depth in this sector. Departmental figures reported in December 2025 put the state's medicinal crop area at 46,837 hectares in 2024-25, with isabgol at about 13,000 hectares, ashwagandha at 6,626 hectares and safed musli at 2,403 hectares, and describe Madhya Pradesh as producing a very large share, reported as 44 per cent; of India's medicinal crop output. The area expansion scheme is the instrument that pushes those numbers up year on year.

Key features

• State scheme of the Horticulture and Food Processing Department, applicable across all districts of Madhya Pradesh.
• Subsidy set at 20 to 50 per cent of the unit cost, crop by crop.
• Eligible area of 0.25 hectare minimum to 2.00 hectares maximum per farmer.
• Benefit given once per farmer in their lifetime under this component.
• Open to all categories of farmers, including forest rights certificate holders.
• Applications, sanction and payment are all tracked on MPFSTS.

Which crops are covered and what does each pay?

The notified list runs to ten crops: bael, sarpagandha, kalmegh, safed musli, amla, ashwagandha, shatavari, tulsi, coleus and gudmar or stevia.

Safed musli sits at the top of the table for a straightforward reason: its planting material is tubers, and a hectare of musli needs several quintals of tuber at a cost that dwarfs anything in the rest of the list. Bael, at the other end, is a tree crop planted at a modest number of saplings per hectare, so a 50 per cent rate still translates into only Rs 20,000.

The department's own crop-wise unit cost table for the financial year is the authority on the exact figure for any other crop, and it is published as a guideline PDF on MPFSTS. Ask for it by name at the block office before choosing a crop. The difference between a 20 per cent and a 50 per cent crop can decide whether the planting is worth doing at all.

Who is eligible for the medicinal crop subsidy?

You can be considered if:

• You are a farmer resident in Madhya Pradesh with land recorded in your name, or you hold a forest rights certificate for the land.
• You propose to plant 0.25 to 2.00 hectares with one of the notified medicinal or aromatic crops.
• You have adequate irrigation for the crop. This is treated as a working condition, since most of the notified crops will not establish on rainfall alone in a Madhya Pradesh season.
• You belong to any category, the scheme is open to all farmer categories, and the rate depends on the crop rather than on the applicant's category.
• You are registered on MPFSTS.

You are not eligible, or your file will not be sanctioned, if:

• You have already drawn this benefit once. It is a once-in-a-lifetime component per farmer.
• Your proposed area is below 0.25 hectare, or you expect payment on more than 2.00 hectares.
• The land is neither in your name nor covered by a forest rights certificate.
• You propose a crop that is not on the notified list for the year.
• Your district or block target for the year is exhausted.
• You plant first and apply afterwards. Sanction must precede planting; a bill produced for material already planted without a sanction is normally rejected.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the medicinal and aromatic crop subsidy

1. Register free on MPFSTS. Open mpfsts.mp.gov.in/mphd/ and choose new registration. If you prefer assistance, take your Aadhaar, khasra or forest certificate, bank passbook and photograph to any MP Online kiosk or Common Service Centre.
2. Talk to the district office first. The district horticulture or agriculture office advises on which notified crop suits your soil, irrigation and local buyer network. This is the step most farmers skip and later regret, because a medicinal crop with no local buyer is a hard crop to sell.
3. File the online application under the medicinal and aromatic crop area expansion component, entering khasra number, village, the exact area between 0.25 and 2.00 hectares, and the crop chosen. Upload the land document, bank passbook, Aadhaar and photograph.
4. Save the application number displayed after submission.
5. Wait for the sanction, then buy certified planting material and plant the sanctioned area. Keep the purchase bill.
6. Allow field inspection. Departmental staff inspect the field through the season, not only once, and record whether the crop is standing on the sanctioned area.
7. Receive the subsidy by Direct Benefit Transfer into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account after the inspection report is approved.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the district horticulture office or the office of the Assistant Director of Horticulture in your district, or the Senior Horticulture Development Officer at the block.
2. Ask for the current-year crop-wise unit cost and subsidy table before you decide the crop.
3. Submit the form with copies of Aadhaar, khasra or forest certificate and bank passbook. Staff process the form at the counter and enter it into MPFSTS.
4. Take the acknowledgement with the application number.

How do I check my application and payment status?

Use the application status option on mpfsts.mp.gov.in with your application number or registered mobile number. The portal also publishes district-wise beneficiary lists by scheme and year; finding your name there confirms that you have been taken against the district target. Payment appears in the bank account only after the field verification report is uploaded and passed, so a status of "sanctioned" is not yet a status of "paid".

Why medicinal crop subsidy claims fail

• Repeat claim. The farmer has already taken the once-in-a-lifetime benefit.
• Crop not standing at inspection, often because a musli or ashwagandha planting failed for want of irrigation at establishment.
• Area mismatch between the sanctioned hectares and what the inspecting officer measures.
• Land record problem; plot recorded in a family member's name, or a forest certificate that does not cover the plot planted.
• No purchase bill for the planting material, which makes the unit cost unverifiable.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT payment fails silently.
• Target exhausted for the district in that financial year.

Where do I complain if the subsidy does not arrive?

Escalate in order: the Senior Horticulture Development Officer at the block, the Assistant Director of Horticulture in the district, the divisional Deputy Director or Joint Director of Horticulture, and then the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing in Bhopal. For portal errors, failed uploads or payment problems, write to the MPFSTS helpdesk address published on the portal, mpfsts.helpdesk@mp.gov.in, quoting your application number.

Registration on MPFSTS is free of cost. A kiosk may charge only the notified service charge for data entry. No agent can charge a commission on your subsidy, and no officer will ask for your Aadhaar OTP.