Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana

What is Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana?

Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana is a horticulture plantation scheme of the Agriculture Department, Government of Maharashtra, launched in the kharif season of 2018-19 and named after the late state agriculture minister Pandurang alias Bhausaheb Fundkar. The scheme pays a land-holding farmer the full notified cost of establishing a fruit orchard, released in three annual instalments tied to how well the plants survive.

Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana exists to fill a specific gap. Maharashtra's main horticulture plantation support historically came through MGNREGA, which is open only to job-card holders in defined categories. Farmers outside that net; typically those with slightly larger holdings or without job cards, had no route to plant an orchard with government support. This scheme covers exactly that group, and explicitly applies to the area not covered by MGNREGA plantation.

Core design of the scheme

• 100 per cent subsidy on the notified per-hectare plantation cost.
• Paid over three years in a 50 : 30 : 20 split, half in the planting year, 30 per cent in year two, 20 per cent in year three.
• 16 perennial fruit crops eligible.
• Delivered entirely through MahaDBT, the state's direct benefit transfer platform, with money going to the Aadhaar-seeded bank account.
• Second and third instalments are conditional on plant survival, verified by the taluka agriculture staff.

The three-year staggered payment is the heart of the scheme. It is not an administrative delay, it is a deliberate incentive to keep the young orchard alive through its most vulnerable years, since a fruit tree yields nothing for the first several seasons and abandonment was the historic failure mode.

Who is eligible for the Fundkar horticulture scheme?

You can claim the benefit if:

• You are a farmer resident in Maharashtra with land recorded in your own name on the 7/12 extract.
• Your planting area falls within the limits: 0.20 to 6 hectares in most of Maharashtra, and 0.10 to 10 hectares in the Konkan division, which gets a lower floor and a higher ceiling in recognition of its small, fragmented holdings and its mango and cashew economy.
• Your land is suitable for the fruit crop you choose, and the crop is on the permitted list for your district.
• You have an Aadhaar-seeded bank account for DBT.
• You are willing to arrange drip or micro-irrigation where the crop requires it.

Priority and reservation. SC and ST farmers, women farmers and differently abled farmers receive reserved allocation within the district target, in line with the Agriculture Department's standing norms.

Institutional applicants such as agricultural universities, government farms and registered institutions farming their own land may be considered under the scheme's institutional provisions, but the scheme is designed around individual farmers.

You cannot apply if:

• Your land is not recorded in your name and you have no consent letter from the recorded joint holders. Pure tenant cultivators without documentation are not eligible.
• Your intended area is below the minimum: under 0.20 hectare outside Konkan, or under 0.10 hectare in Konkan; or above the maximum of 6 or 10 hectares respectively.
• You are claiming for an area already covered by MGNREGA horticulture plantation. Overlap is not allowed; the MGNREGA entitlement must be used first.
• You have already received plantation subsidy for the same survey number and the same crop under this or another government scheme.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, in which case DBT cannot reach you.
• You are planting an annual or seasonal crop. Only the notified perennial fruit crops qualify.

Which fruit crops are covered?

Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana covers 16 perennial fruit crops:

mango, cashew, guava, sapota (chikoo), custard apple (sitaphal), pomegranate, acid lime (kagdi limbu), coconut, tamarind, fig (anjeer), amla, kokum, jackfruit, jamun, orange (santra) and sweet lime (mosambi).

Not every crop is permitted in every district. The taluka agriculture office works to an agro-climatic suitability list, so a Konkan farmer will find mango, cashew, kokum and jackfruit approved readily while a Vidarbha farmer will more likely be approved for orange, sweet lime, custard apple or amla. Choose a crop that matches your rainfall and soil, because a mismatch is both a rejection risk and a survival risk.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana

1. Open the MahaDBT farmer portal at mahadbt.maharashtra.gov.in and choose the farmer schemes section (also reachable through aaplesarkardbt.gov.in).
2. Complete new registration with your Aadhaar number and a mobile number that can receive an OTP, then set a username and password.
3. Log in and fill your profile: personal details, category, bank account with IFSC, and land details from your 7/12 and 8-A extracts, including survey numbers and area.
4. Select the component Horticulture — Bhausaheb Fundkar Phalbaag Lagvad Yojana, then choose your fruit crop, planting area and spacing.
5. Upload the supporting documents and pay nothing. The application itself is free; note that MahaDBT charges a small application fee for some farmer components, so read the on-screen prompt.
6. Submit and save the application number. From 2025-26 the Agriculture Department selects applications on a first-come, first-served basis by submission timestamp, so filing early in the window matters.
7. Wait for pre-sanction after the taluka agriculture office verifies your land record. Do not begin pit digging or planting before pre-sanction if you want the cost counted.
8. Plant within the sanctioned season using healthy grafts or saplings from a government or accredited nursery, then report completion on the portal.
9. Attend the field inspection. The agriculture assistant records the plant count and survival, and the first instalment of 50 per cent is released by DBT.
10. Maintain the orchard and get inspected again in year two and year three for the 30 per cent and 20 per cent instalments.

How much money will I actually receive?

The benefit is 100 per cent of the notified plantation cost for your crop and spacing: not a flat rupee figure. The Agriculture Commissionerate publishes per-hectare cost norms for each of the 16 crops, and these differ sharply: a close-spaced pomegranate or acid lime orchard has a very different per-hectare cost from a widely spaced mango or tamarind planting.

The notified cost typically bundles pit digging, planting material, farmyard manure, fertiliser, plant protection, and maintenance in years two and three. Payment follows the schedule:

Because the survival thresholds are checked physically, a farmer whose plants have died must replace them at his own cost before the next inspection. Gap filling is the farmer's responsibility, not a fresh claim.

Micro-irrigation is treated separately. Drip installation on the same plot can be claimed under the state and central micro-irrigation schemes on the MahaDBT portal, which is why farmers often file both applications in the same season.

How to check your application and payment status

1. Log in to mahadbt.maharashtra.gov.in with your username and password.
2. Open application status on your dashboard and read the stage: submitted, selected, document verification, pre-sanction issued, work completed, inspected, or payment released.
3. Check payment status for each of the three instalments separately; year two and year three appear only after the corresponding inspection.
4. If a stage is stuck, quote your application number to the Taluka Agriculture Officer, who holds the verification and inspection responsibility.

Why applications get rejected or instalments stop

• Area outside the permitted range: below 0.20 hectare or above 6 hectares outside Konkan.
• MGNREGA overlap, the same area already covered by MGNREGA plantation.
• Land not in the applicant's name, or missing consent from joint holders.
• Name or account mismatch between Aadhaar, the 7/12 extract and the bank record.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, blocking DBT.
• Planting done before pre-sanction, or outside the sanctioned season.
• Crop not suitable for the district's agro-climatic list.
• Survival below the threshold at the year-two or year-three inspection, which stops the remaining instalments until gaps are filled.
• District target exhausted for the year, in which case the application waits for the next cycle rather than failing on merit.

Key dates

Bhausaheb Fundkar Falbag Lagvad Yojana runs on the kharif planting calendar. Applications open on MahaDBT ahead of the monsoon so that pre-sanction, pit digging and planting can be completed with the rains. There is no single fixed national-style deadline; the window is announced each year on the MahaDBT farmer portal, and from 2025-26 the Agriculture Department has moved to first-come, first-served selection based on submission time, which makes early filing materially important.

Help and grievance redressal

• MahaDBT farmer helpline: 022-61316429, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday to Friday
• Taluka Agriculture Officer and the village Krishi Sahayak for land verification, pre-sanction and inspection issues
• District Superintending Agriculture Officer for escalation
• Grievance tab inside your MahaDBT login, which generates a trackable ticket
• Maharashtra CM Helpline: 1800 120 8040

Application on MahaDBT is done by the farmer directly. No agent can move you up the first-come queue, and the subsidy is paid only into the beneficiary's own Aadhaar-seeded account.