Govardhan Jaivik Urvarak Yojana — On-Farm Organic Fertiliser Subsidy, Rajasthan

What is the Rajasthan on-farm organic fertiliser subsidy?

Govardhan Jaivik Urvarak Yojana is the name many Rajasthan farmers use for the state's support for making organic fertiliser on your own farm rather than buying chemical fertiliser off a shelf. On the Rajasthan Jan Kalyan scheme portal, this support is listed by the Horticulture Department under two component names, Vermi Compost Unit (वर्मी कम्पोस्ट इकाई) and Organic Farming (जैविक खेती). Both are national mission components implemented by the state, funded 60 percent by the centre and 40 percent by the state, delivered by DBT, and applied for through e-Mitra.

The logic of the pair is straightforward. The vermicompost component pays for the structure that turns dung and crop waste into manure. The organic farming component pays for the inputs and the certification that make the resulting produce sellable as organic. A farmer who takes only the first gets cheaper manure. A farmer who takes both gets cheaper manure and a certified organic crop.

The Horticulture Department's stated reason for the organic component is demand: the department describes rising demand for food produced by organic methods as the motive for promoting organic cultivation in horticulture crops.

Who is eligible, and who is not eligible?

For the vermicompost unit, you can apply if:

• You cultivate horticulture crops on at least 0.4 hectare of your own land.
• You have adequate livestock, water and organic matter available on the holding, a vermicompost unit without dung has nothing to work with.
• You are willing to give an affidavit to run the unit regularly for at least three years.

For the organic farming component, you can apply if:

• You own at least one hectare of land, with livestock, water and organic matter available.
• You agree to take organic production on the selected plot for three continuous years, and to sign the department's agreement to that effect.
• You agree to join a certification agency for organic certification.
• You agree to grow every crop in the rotation on that plot by organic methods, not just one crop.
• Your plot can be taken up as part of a farmer group covering 50 hectares, which is the unit in which the organic farming programme is run.

You cannot apply, or will not be eligible, if:

• You do not own the land; tenants and sharecroppers without land in their own name are not eligible.
• You fall below the minimum area for the component: 0.4 hectare for the vermicompost unit, 1 hectare for organic farming.
• You intend to keep using synthetic or chemical inputs on the selected plot. These are prohibited on the organic area.
• You cannot commit to the three-year period. Both components are built around a three-year commitment and a shorter intention will fail at verification.
• You want the subsidy for a commercial compost trading business rather than for producing organic inputs for your own farm.

Priority within the eligible pool goes to farmers already in an organic village or already linked to organic farming, and to farmers or areas selected for the organic farming programme.

How much subsidy is paid?

Vermicompost unit

Organic farming inputs

• 50 percent of the unit cost of organic inputs, up to Rs 10,000 per hectare per beneficiary, for a maximum of 4 hectares.
• Paid over three years in a 40:30:30 ratio: Rs 4,000 per hectare in year one, Rs 3,000 per hectare in year two, and Rs 3,000 per hectare in year three.
• Payment is made as a lump sum by RTGS, and the department states there is no obligation on the farmer to produce input bills.

Organic certification

• Rs 5.00 lakh for a cluster of 50 hectares, released as Rs 1.50 lakh in year one, Rs 1.50 lakh in year two and Rs 2.00 lakh in year three.

The department's recorded delivery time for the organic farming component is 180 days, and the payment frequency is in instalments across three years.

How to apply for the organic fertiliser subsidy

1. Visit an e-Mitra kiosk, or sign in to the Raj Kisan Sathi portal at rajkisan.rajasthan.gov.in using your Rajasthan SSO ID.
2. Select the component you want — Vermi Compost Unit under the Horticulture Department for the structure, or Organic Farming for the input and certification support.
3. Fill the application with your Jan Aadhaar or Aadhaar number, khasra and khata details from the jamabandi, the area you are putting under the programme, and your bank account details.
4. Upload the jamabandi nakal, Aadhaar or Jan Aadhaar and bank passbook copy, and for the vermicompost unit, the affidavit to run the unit for three years.
5. Submit and save the application number from the acknowledgement.
6. Build the unit, or take up organic practice on the plot, after the application is registered. For the HDPE vermibed, keep the purchase bill.
7. Allow the district officer or the Agriculture Supervisor or Assistant Agriculture Officer to physically verify the unit. Subsidy is released only after this verification.
8. Receive the payment by RTGS. For an HDPE vermibed, the department's own norm is that payment must be made within 15 days of the bill being received.

What the department expects a vermicompost unit to look like

The Horticulture Department publishes specifications, and physical verification is against them, so they are worth building to rather than approximating.

Pucca vermicompost unit

• Size 30 feet long, 8 feet wide, 2.5 feet deep, permanent construction.
• Shed material as locally available; steel, asbestos sheet or battens; using shade material of a permanent nature.
• Shed height at least 10 feet at the centre and 8 feet at the sides.
• At least 60 kilograms of earthworms per unit, sourced from an ATC, a registered non-government institution or a gaushala.
• Each bed to receive 400 grams each of Trichoderma, PSB and Azotobacter culture and 1.0 kilogram of neem cake.
• Ancillary equipment to be made available: chaff cutter, rake, sieve, pipe, spade, tray and similar tools.
• A permanent board at the site showing the farmer's name, father's name, the words indicating a subsidised vermicompost unit under the national horticulture mission, and the year of subsidy. A photograph of the working unit is kept in the office record.

HDPE vermibed

• Size 12 feet long, 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep, conforming to IS 15907:2010.
• Shade must be arranged above the bed.
• 10 kilograms of earthworms per unit.

What organic farming under this scheme requires

• The programme is taken up in a farmer group covering 50 hectares.
• Payment of the input subsidy follows verification that the farmer has joined an internal control system agency for certification and is following organic practices.
• A buffer zone must be kept on all sides of the field under organic farming.
• Produce is classed as organic only after three years of organic practice, which is why the three-year agreement is taken.
• Synthetic and chemical inputs are prohibited on the selected area.
• Indicative permitted inputs named by the department include vermicompost, compost, farmyard manure, green manure, bacterial manure, neem cake, gypsum, neem-based preparations, BT and NPV, bio agents, Trichoderma, mulching from natural sources, rock phosphate, pheromone traps, light traps, algal preparations such as blue-green algae, lime sulphur, plant-based repellents, plant and animal oils, biodynamic preparations and copper salts. Other inputs may be used provided they are organic in nature.

Where the scheme runs

The organic farming component is recorded as running in 24 districts, Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Sri Ganganagar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Sirohi, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Udaipur, Baran and Karauli. All caste categories are covered, including SC, ST, OBC, SBC, EWS, minority and general.

Common reasons the subsidy does not come through

• Unit built to the wrong dimensions, so physical verification fails against the published specification.
• Fewer earthworms than the norm, or earthworms bought from an unapproved source.
• No site board, which the department requires on subsidised units.
• Chemical input found in use on the plot claimed as organic.
• Farmer not linked to a certification agency, which stops the organic input instalment.
• Wrong bank details, so the RTGS credit fails.
• District target exhausted for the year, in which case the application can be made again in the next financial year.

Help and grievance

• Rajasthan Agriculture and Horticulture helpline: 1800-180-1551
• Horticulture Department website: horticulture.rajasthan.gov.in
• Application portal: rajkisan.rajasthan.gov.in, or any e-Mitra kiosk
• Beneficiary lists are published on the state transparency portal, jansoochna.rajasthan.gov.in

The department records no service fee for this scheme. Only the notified e-Mitra charge is payable, and nothing else should be paid to anyone to get a file cleared.