As the population is growing day by day, the amount of agricultural land in our nation is becoming limited. Due to the increasing population, the demand for food supply is rapidly increasing. The Indian Government has taken this into consideration and has been taking initiatives to increase food productivity on the available land. A Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisms (SMAM) is being implemented in every state to promote farm mechanization.

The Indian Government is providing a subsidy on all agricultural machinery up to 80%. This scheme is available for all the farmers across all the states in the country. 

Objectives of the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisms

  • Increase the reach of the farm mechanism to small and medium farmers and to the districts where farm power is low.
  • promoting “Custom Hiring Centers” to equate the adverse economics of scale arising from small landholdings and the high cost of individual ownership.
  • Create hubs for hi-tech and high-cost farm equipment.
  • Creating awareness among stakeholders with the help of capacity building activities.
  • Ensure performance testing and certification at designed testing centres that are situated all through the country.

Let us now check for the list of documents that are required for applying to SMAM Scheme:

1) Passport size photograph of the farmer

2) Aadhar card

3) Subscribers bank account pass book (front page)

4) ID proof (Aadhar card, Driving license, Voter id, Pan card, Passport)

5) Caste certificate (in case of SC, ST, OBC)

6) Record of Right (RoR) of the land to upload while adding land details

Steps involved applying online:

  • Open www.agrimachinery.nic.in
  • Click on the Direct Benefit Transfer In Agriculture Machanization Tab. A new window is opened
  • Click on the registration tab and you will get a dropdown list, under that choose farmer tab
  • Farmer Registration form will be opened
  • First it will check for the registered farmer with any of the following Aadhar No, Mobile No, Name (As per Aadhar)
  • Once when you enter the details your account will be shown (If registered)
  • If you are not a registered Farmer then a form is displayed below the page with details to be filed.
  • Fill in the details in the form given and the click on register button in the bottom.
  • Once when you click on the register button a pop-up window is displayed 1) OTP (Registered mobile) 2) Demographic details based authentication (Aadhar, Name, Gender)
  • When you choose to authenticate with mobile number, OTP is sent to the registered mobile number, a pop-up is displayed for the authentication with consent.
  • When you accept the consent user id and pwd is your date of birth (ddmmyyyy) is displayed.
  • After login, you will get options, select the option as farmer, a pop-up window is displayed. Enter the user id and pwd you have along with captcha.
  • Click on sign in and your dash board will be opened. 
  • Complete the profile in your account and then you can apply for the SMSM scheme.

Implementation of Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanism

Farm Mechanization programmes are executed through different missions/plans like RKVY, MIDH, NMOOP and SMAM. The Central Sector schemes ‘Post-Harvest Technology and Management’ and ‘Promotion and Strengthening of Agricultural Mechanization through Training, Testing and Demonstration’ are additionally combined with this Sub-Mission.

Subsidizing Allocations

DAC&FW (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation) allocates funds to the State and Implementing Agencies relying upon the following parameters:

  • 50% of the proportion of states’ cultivable areas to the absolute cultivable area of the country.
  • To the absolute area under small and marginal farmers, 50% of the state is under small and marginal holdings.
  • The release of flexi-funds is made on a pro-rata basis with ordinary releases of SMAM.
  • Funds are delivered to the States and Implementing Agencies according to Rule 238 of GFRs 2017 (General Financial Rules).
  • The release of the initial payment is made after the approval of the Annual Action Plan (AAP) and release of the second installment on the submission of a Utilization Certificate for a minimum of 50% of the funds that are released as the first payment, a detailed Physical and Financial Report, and so forth as indicated by the provisions of GFRs.
  • Only 10% of the complete unspent balance would be allowed to be carried to the next financial year. The leftover unspent balance would be adjusted by the sum that would be released as the second installment.
  • If a State Government/Implementing Agency doesn’t look for the release of the second installment, the unspent balance amounting to 10% will be deducted from the release of the initial payment during the upcoming fiscal.
  • After January, the second installment will not be released; only the re-allocated funds will be delivered to the better-performing states.These help in timely and optimum utilisation of assets.

Goal:

Expanding the reach of farm mechanisation to small and marginal farmers and to troublesome areas where farmer power accessibility is low.

Objectives:

  • ‘Custom Hiring Centers’ and ‘Hi-tech Hubs of High-Value Machines’ to counterbalance the adverse economies of scale emerging because of small and fragmented landholdings and the significant cost of individual ownership.
  • Creating awareness among partners through demonstration and capacity building activities
  • Guaranteeing performance testing and confirmation of agricultural machines at designated testing centres found all around the country.

SMAM Scheme On Media Click Here

Guideline of SMAM Scheme: http://agricoop.nic.in/sites/default/files/Guideline%20of%20SMAM%20%20Scheme%2020-21.pdf