Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha Yojana (Madhya Pradesh Wire Fencing Subsidy)

What is Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha Yojana is the Madhya Pradesh field-protection programme under which the state pays a large share of the cost of putting wire fencing around a farmer's field. The Horticulture and Food Processing Department (Udyanik evam Khadya Prasanskaran Vibhag) runs it, and applications are handled through the department's MPFSTS portal at mpfsts.mp.gov.in.

The scheme exists for one reason: standing crops in Madhya Pradesh are eaten and trampled by nilgai, wild boar, monkeys and stray cattle, and the loss falls hardest on horticulture, where a single night of damage can wipe out an entire vegetable or spice planting. When the state announced the fencing support, it put the horticulture area of Madhya Pradesh at roughly 22 lakh hectares farmed by about five lakh farmers, with a very large share of that area exposed to animal damage every season.

Madhya Pradesh presented itself as the first state in the country to offer this scale of support for tar fencing. The local term readers will see in Hindi notices is "tar fencing anudan". The subsidy is not a cash grant for anything the farmer chooses; it is a reimbursement tied to a specific physical asset, a 5-wire fence with support posts running along the boundary of the field.

Key features

• State-funded support delivered by the Horticulture and Food Processing Department, not by the agriculture department.
• The unit is a boundary fence of five wires with posts, measured in running metres.
• The department bears 50 per cent of the cost; the farmer bears the rest.
• The subsidy is released after the fence is built and physically verified.
• Applications are made on MPFSTS, the department's single subsidy portal.

How much money does the wire fencing subsidy give?

The department works to a cost norm of roughly Rs 300 per running metre for 5-wire fencing with posts. On that basis a farmer fencing a 1,000-metre boundary spends about Rs 3 lakh in total, of which the state contributes about Rs 1.5 lakh and the farmer pays about Rs 1.5 lakh.

The figure a particular farmer receives therefore depends on the length of the boundary being fenced, not on the area of the plot. A compact square field encloses more area per metre of fence than a long narrow strip, so two farmers with the same hectarage can end up with very different sanctions.

When the programme was first announced, the state indicated a subsidy band of 50 to 70 per cent, with the higher end intended for weaker categories of farmers. The rate that is actually sanctioned appears in the district-wise guidelines issued for the financial year. Before ordering wire and posts, ask your Senior Horticulture Development Officer to show you the sanctioned rate and the approved specification in writing, the difference between 50 and 70 per cent on a Rs 3 lakh job is Rs 60,000, and it is not a number to assume.

Who is eligible for the Madhya Pradesh fencing subsidy?

You can be considered if:

• You are a farmer resident in Madhya Pradesh with land recorded in your name in the khasra or B-1.
• You grow horticultural crops: fruit, vegetable, flower or spice; on the plot to be fenced.
• Your field is exposed to damage by wild animals or stray cattle.
• Your district and block are covered by the fencing targets released for the current financial year.
• You hold a forest rights certificate for the land, which the horticulture department accepts in place of a revenue land record for its schemes.
• You are registered on the MPFSTS portal. Registration is free.

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

• You cannot produce a land record or forest lease for the plot being fenced.
• The plot grows only field crops such as wheat, soyabean or gram and no horticultural crop — this is a horticulture department scheme, and the agriculture department does not run a parallel fencing subsidy of the same kind.
• Your district or block has no fencing target for the year, or the target is already exhausted.
• You have already drawn fencing subsidy for the same boundary. Horticulture department area and asset subsidies are generally one-time per farmer per component.
• You build the fence before a work order is sanctioned. Retrospective claims for work already completed are routinely rejected.

How to apply for Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha Yojana

1. Register on MPFSTS. Open mpfsts.mp.gov.in/mphd/ and choose "Naveen Panjiyan (nishulk)": new registration, free of cost. You can also get this done at any MP Online kiosk or Common Service Centre. Keep your Aadhaar number, khasra or B-1, bank passbook and a passport photograph ready.
2. Check that the fencing component is open for your district. The portal lists departmental schemes with their guidelines. Applications can only be filed while targets for your district are live.
3. File the application for the fencing component, entering the survey or khasra number of the plot, the crop grown, and the boundary length in running metres that you intend to fence. Upload the land record, bank passbook, Aadhaar and photograph.
4. Wait for the work order. The district horticulture office scrutinises the application against the target and issues a sanction or work order. Do not buy material before this arrives.
5. Install the fencing to the sanctioned specification, five wires and posts along the marked boundary, and keep every bill, cash memo and GST invoice for the wire, posts, cement and labour.
6. Ask for physical verification. A horticulture extension officer visits, measures the fence in running metres and records a verification report with photographs.
7. Receive the subsidy by Direct Benefit Transfer into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account once the verification report is uploaded and the claim is passed.

How to apply offline through the horticulture office

1. Visit the office of the Assistant Director of Horticulture in your district collectorate, or meet the Senior Horticulture Development Officer at the block headquarters.
2. Ask for the current-year guidelines for the fencing component and the district target position.
3. Submit a written application with copies of your Aadhaar, khasra or B-1 and bank passbook. The office will still convert it into an MPFSTS entry, because the portal is the record of sanction.
4. Collect the acknowledgement carrying the application number and use it to follow the file.

How do I check my application status?

MPFSTS carries an "application status" option on its home page. Enter your application number or registered mobile number to see whether the file is pending at the block level, sanctioned, verified or paid. The portal also publishes beneficiary lists (hitgrahi suchi) scheme by scheme, which is the quickest way to confirm that your name has actually been taken on the sanctioned list rather than merely accepted as an application.

If the status has not moved for several weeks, the file is almost always sitting with the block-level horticulture officer awaiting field verification, and a visit to the block office resolves it faster than repeated online checks.

Why fencing subsidy claims get rejected

• No work order before construction. Building first and claiming later is the single most common cause of rejection.
• Specification mismatch. A fence with fewer than the sanctioned number of wires, or with posts spaced wider than allowed, is measured down or rejected.
• Boundary length disputed. The claimed running metres do not match what the verifying officer measures on the ground.
• Land record mismatch. The khasra number on the application does not match the plot that was fenced, or the land is in a family member's name.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT payment fails and the claim sits unpaid.
• District target exhausted. A technically sound application can still lapse if the year's financial target is finished; it must be refiled next year.

Where do I complain if the subsidy is not paid?

Grievances go up the horticulture line: the Senior Horticulture Development Officer at the block, then the Assistant Director of Horticulture at the district, then the Deputy Director / Joint Director of Horticulture at the divisional level, and finally the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing in Bhopal. The MPFSTS portal carries a helpdesk email address (mpfsts.helpdesk@mp.gov.in) for portal and payment problems.

Registration on MPFSTS is free, and no kiosk operator or middleman is authorised to charge a fee for "getting the fencing subsidy sanctioned". Pay only the notified kiosk charge for data entry, and never hand over your Aadhaar OTP.

A note on what is and is not confirmed

Madhya Pradesh's fencing support has been publicised under the Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha name and began as a pilot in around 20 model blocks, with statewide extension conditional on results. The 50 per cent share and the Rs 300 per running metre working norm are the figures reported consistently from departmental briefings. The upper 70 per cent rate, the exact list of eligible categories at that higher rate, and the year-by-year district coverage have not been published as a single consolidated notification that can be quoted here. Treat the district-level guidelines issued by your Assistant Director of Horticulture as the operative document, and confirm the sanctioned rate before you spend money.