Subsidised seeds and fertilisers kits: Gujarat govt targets 1.2 L tribal farmers; highest in 7 years

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On Tuesday, the government began distributing kits containing fertilisers and seeds. The estimated cost of one kit is Rs 3,240, but the beneficiaries are charged Rs 250, said officials.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a video conference with officials and beneficiaries from 14 districts that have
sizeable tribal population, and spoke to them about the scheme that was first implemented in 2012-13 with over 2.1 lakh beneficiaries.

“In order to ensure that the income of tribals increase from agriculture and to see that there is diversification, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started this scheme during his tenure as the chief minister of the state… About 1.23 lakh tribals farmers living in the belt between Ambaji (in North) to Umargoan (in South) will get the benefit of this scheme this year.” Patel said.

In his virtual address, the chief minister said organic fertilisers are also being given out under this scheme since last year. “Under this scheme, a tribal beneficiary will be given high-yielding seeds for vegetables or maize, a bag of DAP (Diammonium phosphate) and one bag of organic fertilisers,” Patel said.

The seeds given under this scheme in the past were for maize, brinjal, tomato, okra, bitter gourd and bottle gourd.

The fertilisers included Urea, NPK and organic fertiliser. “It is an ongoing scheme. This time we have developed an online portal for accepting applications under the scheme. Until last year, we used to take manual applications.
This year, our target is 1.23 lakh tribal farmers. Until last evening, we approved 76,000 applications and for them, the kit distribution started Tuesday,” Dr S Murali Krishna, secretary, Tribal Development department told The Indian Express.

As Dang has been declared a 100 percent “natural farming” district, only organic fertilisers will be distributed among the beneficiaries, the official added.

Apart from the distribution of kits, the tribal beneficiaries will be trained for higher crop production. During the video conference Tuesday, beneficiaries and officials from Khedbrahma, Vyara, Vasda, Valsad, Ahwa, Bhiloda, Narmada, Netrang, Mandvi, Santrampur and Danta participated.