"Subsidy for Cultivation of Fodder Crops" Component of the "Crop Production Technology" Scheme

What is the fodder cultivation subsidy in Puducherry?

The "Subsidy for Cultivation of Fodder Crops" is a component of the "Crop Production Technology" scheme of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Union Territory of Puducherry. The Department distributes a cash incentive of Rs 12,500 per hectare to farmers and Self Help Groups who take up fodder cultivation in the Puducherry region.

Fodder is the quiet constraint on livestock income in a small, densely cultivated territory. Puducherry has very little common grazing land, land prices push holdings towards food and commercial crops, and green fodder is therefore either bought in or simply not fed in adequate quantity. A milch animal fed on crop residues alone gives less milk and costs more per litre to keep. The Department's answer is to pay a per-hectare incentive that makes a block of dedicated fodder attractive against the alternative use of the same land, and to route it through both individual farmers and Self Help Groups so that landless or near-landless members can participate collectively.

The component sits inside the Department's largest extension scheme. Crop Production Technology is administered from the Office of the Additional Director of Agriculture (Training and Visit), Agricultural Complex, Thattanchavady, and the Department's citizen's charter lists the fodder incentive as component five, immediately after the sugarcane nursery premium. The companion components under the same scheme, all at published rates, are worth knowing because most fodder applicants qualify for several:

• Back-ended subsidy to paddy growers, Rs 4,000 per hectare
• Assistance to Karaikal farmers for direct sowing of paddy, Rs 1,500 per hectare for dry ploughing
• Back-ended investment subsidy for millets in the Sornavari season, Rs 3,000 per hectare
• Nursery premium for sugarcane seed material, Rs 4,000 for 10 ares of nursery
• Micronutrient mixtures, soil amendments, DAP for foliar spray, plant growth regulators and plant protection chemicals, 50% subsidy for general farmers, 75% for Scheduled Caste farmers
• Paddy seed at Rs 10 per kg for general farmers, 75% subsidy for Scheduled Caste farmers
• Improved implements, hand sprayers, power sprayers, tarpaulin and silpaulin, 50% subsidy for general farmers, 75% for Scheduled Caste farmers

Who is eligible for the fodder crop incentive?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident or native of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• You are residing in the Puducherry region.
• You are a farmer, or a Self Help Group taking up cultivation collectively.
• You are cultivating fodder in the Puducherry region on the extent you claim.
• You hold a Farmers Identity Card, or authenticated land records where no card has been issued to you.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not cultivating in the Puducherry region. The Department lists this component against that region, so growers in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam must confirm availability with their regional office first.
• You cannot establish the holding with either a Farmers Identity Card or a land document such as a sale deed, partition deed, gift deed or will.
• You are a tenant cultivator without the required certificate. Tenants must produce a cultivation certificate from the landowner, or from a joint verification carried out by the Agriculture or Revenue Department. Tenants on land owned by religious institutions, wakfs, mutts, trusts or municipalities must additionally produce a consent letter from that institution.
• Your claimed area is not actually under fodder when the Agricultural Officer inspects. The subsidy is calculated pro-rata on the verified extent.
• You miss the announced window for the season.

How much is paid, and how?

The rate is a flat Rs 12,500 per hectare of fodder cultivation, worked out pro-rata against the extent verified in the field. There is no separate rate for Self Help Groups, and no separate slab by crop published in the Department's charter.

The incentive is back-ended, which is the standard design across the Crop Production Technology components. The farmer or SHG raises the fodder at their own cost, the Agricultural Officer of the Uzhavar Udhaviyagam verifies the standing crop against the register maintained for the purpose, the provisional list of beneficiaries goes up for scrutiny, and the sanctioned amount is then released by Direct Benefit Transfer to the beneficiary's bank account after expenditure sanction. Nothing is paid in advance of sowing.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the fodder cultivation subsidy

1. Watch for the call for applications. The Department publicises the issue and receipt of applications for each crop and season, through notices at the Uzhavar Udhaviyagams and advertisements in local Tamil dailies.
2. Collect the prescribed form during office hours from the Agricultural Officer at your Uzhavar Udhaviyagam, or from one of these offices: the Deputy Director of Agriculture (Inputs), Thattanchavady; the Deputy Director of Agriculture (T&V) at Bahour, Villianur or Madagadipet; or the Joint Director of Agriculture (T&V) at Bahour or Villianur. You may instead print the form from agri.py.gov.in.
3. Fill in every mandatory field, paste the passport-sized photograph and sign across it where the form asks, and attach self-attested copies of the Farmers Identity Card or land document, the residence proof, the bank passbook front page and, for a group application, the SHG registration certificate.
4. Submit the signed form and enclosures to the same authority, within the period announced for that season.
5. Take your acknowledgement. The office records the application in its receipt register and assigns a unique number that identifies the file in all further references and serves as the acknowledgement.
6. Allow the field inspection by the Agricultural Officer, who verifies the extent actually under fodder before the claim is processed.

How do I check the status of my application?

Quote the unique number issued at submission and follow up with the Agricultural Officer at the Uzhavar Udhaviyagam where you filed. Provisional beneficiary lists under the Department's horticulture and crop components are placed for public scrutiny at the Uzhavar Uthaviyagams and the relevant wing of the Department before being finalised, and the final list is displayed on the notice board of the Uzhavar Uthaviyagams, so checking the board is a practical way to confirm your name has gone through.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Filed outside the announced window. Applications are called season-wise; a late form is not carried forward.
• No Farmers Identity Card and no acceptable land document. Apply for the card through your Uzhavar Udhaviyagam, or enclose the deed or will.
• Tenant claim without a cultivation certificate, or without the institution's consent letter where the land belongs to a trust, wakf, mutt or municipality.
• Extent claimed exceeds the extent verified. The pro-rata calculation follows the Agricultural Officer's inspection, not the form.
• Fodder not actually standing at inspection, for example where the block was ploughed back into a different crop after sowing.
• Bank account inactive or name mismatched, which stalls the DBT credit until a corrected passbook page is filed.
• SHG application without the registration certificate, which leaves the group's standing unestablished.

Where to raise a grievance

The Department's published grievance officer for the Crop Production Technology components is the Additional Director of Agriculture (Training and Visit), Agricultural Complex, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605 009, on 0413-2247852. The Director of Agriculture can be reached on 0413-2336977 or by email at diragri[dot]py[at]gov[dot]in.

Regional offices: Additional Director of Agriculture, Karaikal, 04368-230679; Deputy Director of Agriculture, Mahe, 0490-2334525; Deputy Director of Agriculture, Yanam, 0884-2321922. If a grievance is not settled at that level, it can be escalated within the Department along the route set out in its published grievance redress note on agri.py.gov.in.

The Department states that its scheme patterns are subject to change without notice depending on Government guidelines, so confirm the current rate with your Agricultural Officer before committing land to fodder.