Subsidy for farm fencing to help nearly 100,000 farmers in Rajasthan

Sangram Singh, a farmer from Bilali village in Alwar district, used to keep watch over his agriculture fields round the clock because of the major issue of stray animals damaging crops. Now that the Rajasthan government is providing a subsidy, Singh will be able to erect wire fences all around his land. 

The Rajasthan government plans to spend Rs 200 crore towards subsidies to 100,000 farmers in the fiscal year 2023-24 so that they can erect wire fences around their fields to protect the crops from stray cattle, also called blue bucks.  

The government has also announced to raise the subsidy to 70 per cent from 50 per cent on erecting a fence on a minimum 5 hectares of land by a group of 10 or more farmers. For the farmers belonging to scheduled castes, the minimum limit will be 0.50 hectares for fencing. 

A senior official of the agriculture department said the maximum subsidy of Rs 48,000 was now given to small and marginal farmers and Rs 40,000 to general farmers. Now, the subsidy has been increased to 70 per cent of the cost of fencing from April 1. The farmers can apply for the subsidy through Raj Kisan Sathi portal. 

Ratanpal Singh from Alwar’s Sathalpur village, has erected fencing in his fields and got a payment of Rs 48,000 as a subsidy from the state government. 

Moreover, 1.1 million farmers in the state will get 2,000 units of electricity free every month from April. Till now, they are being given an additional subsidy of Rs 1,000 per month, with which electricity bills of 893,000 farmers became zero. 

Under the Kisan Mitra Urja Yojana launched in May 2021, the subsidy amount in the electricity bills to the agricultural consumer, a maximum of Rs 1000 per month was given in the electricity bills. 

The announcements were made in the state Budget to strengthen and increase power generation in the state so that the farmers and general consumers get an uninterrupted power supply.