Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) was established in 2007 as an umbrella scheme to ensure the holistic development of agriculture and allied services. The program rewards states for increasing public investment in agriculture and related services. Concerned about the poor expansion of agriculture and related services, the National Development Council (NDC) launched this initiative. With 100 percent Central funding, the initiative was implemented as an Additional Central Assistance to State Plan Scheme. Since 2015-16, the funding structure has been changed to a 60:40 split between the Centre and the States.

The government has approved the continuation of the current Centrally Sponsored Scheme (State Plans) and renamed Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY – RAFTAAR) as of November 1, 2017.

Objectives of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

The scheme’s principal goal is to develop agriculture as a major source of economic activity.

• To provide financial incentives to governments that enhance their agricultural and related services investments.
• To provide states more flexibility and autonomy in designing and implementing agricultural programs.
• To achieve the goal of closing yield gaps in key crops.
• To maximize farmer profits.
• To deal with agriculture and related areas as a whole.

Features of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

The Scheme’s Features

• It’s a strategy devised by the State Plan.
• The average spending by the state on agricultural and allied services is the state’s eligibility condition.
• The baseline expenditure is calculated using the state’s average expenditure for the three years preceding the previous year.
• The funding pattern is a one-hundred percent Central Government Grant.
• District Agricultural Plans and State Agricultural Plans are required.
• Because this is an incentive program, allocations are not automated.
• It provides states with the greatest amount of flexibility.
• It comprehensively integrates agricultural and allied services.
• Projects with clear deadlines are highly favored.
• Even if it falls out of the RKVY bucket due to a reduction in spending, the state must commit to the projects that have been started.
• States are encouraged to look into combining their plans with others.

The RKVY-RAFTAAR Agri-Business Incubator (R-ABI) at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. By providing financial support and cultivating the incubation ecosystem, this program intends to promote agripreneurship and agribusiness. In 2018-19, this was a new component of the redesigned RKVY-RAFTAAR plan.

Both new and existing incubators will be established/strengthened as R-ABIs with need-based infrastructure, staff, and equipment under this scheme. These incubators will then invite agripreneurs to participate in various stages of the business life cycle, giving them the opportunity to develop agricultural and related services innovations. The innovations can be in the realm of technology, method, products, or services that will improve agricultural and allied services efficiency.

In 2020-21, the Ministry of Agriculture will fund companies through RKVY’s innovation and agripreneurship component.

Benefits Offered by the Scheme

• Orientation to Agripreneurship

A two-month orientation program is available, with a monthly stipend of Rs.10,000. Mentorship is provided on a variety of financial, technological, and other concerns during the orientation.

• Seed Stage Funding of R-ABI Incubatees

Funding up to Rs.25 lakhs (85% is a grant and 15% is the contribution from the incubator). This will be distributed to all R-ABI incubators. These incubators must be Indian start-ups that have a legal entity in India and have spent at least two months at R-ABI.

• Agripreneurs’ Idea/Pre-Seed Stage Funding

Up to 5 lakhs in funding (90 percent is a grant and 10 percent is the contribution from the incubatee). Except in the case of northeastern and hilly states, where the sharing pattern is 90:10, RKVY-RAFTAAR would continue to be operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in the ratio 60:40, i.e., the government of India and state share proportionately. The award is 100 percent as a Central share for UTs.

Eligibility for RKVY

A state is qualified for RKVY if it maintains or increases its expenditure on agriculture and related sectors as a percentage of total State Plan Expenditure.

Where the Base Line for this expenditure is the average of a State Government’s percentage of expenditure on Agriculture and its Allied Sectors over the previous three years, minus any funds related to Agriculture and its Allied Sectors that it may have already received during that time under its State Plan.

Sectors Covered under this scheme

Crop Cultivation, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries, Dairy Development, Agricultural Research and Education, Forestry and Wildlife, Plantation and Agricultural Marketing, Food Storage and Warehousing, Soil and Water Conservation, Agricultural Financial Institutions, and other Agricultural Programs and Cooperation are all covered by the RKVY – Raftaar.

Allocation of funds

In this model, the financial center and the states split the costs 60:40. The North Eastern States and the Himalayan States have a 90:10 ratio.

Sub schemes under RKVY

• Bringing the Green Revolution to the Eastern Region: In 2010-11, this program was launched with the goal of improving the rice-based farming systems of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
• Growing demand for vegetables is expected to be satisfied by a substantial increase in productivity and market linkage, according to the Vegetable Clusters Initiative. It was necessary to build an effective supply chain in order to provide excellent veggies at competitive costs.
• National Mission for Protein Supplements: The National Mission for Protein Supplements was initiated in 2011-12 with a budget of Rs.300 crore to boost animal-based protein production in chosen blocks through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat raising, and fisheries.
• Saffron Mission: The scheme was launched in 2010-11 with four-year budgetary support from the Government of India of Rs.288.06 crore. The mission’s goal was to revitalize the J&K Saffron economy.
• Vidharbha Intensive Irrigation Development Program: The Scheme was initiated in 2012-13 which seeks to bring in more farming areas under protective irrigation.
• Crop Diversification: The original Green Revolution countries face stagnant yields and over-exploitation of water resources. Crop diversification is the answer. For the 2013-2014 fiscal year, Rs.500.00 crore has been set aside to begin a crop diversification program that will promote technological innovation and encourage farmers to pick crop alternatives.

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