By Neeraj Kumar
Patna: Bihar farmers will now benefit from government subsidies on 75 different types of agricultural machinery. General category beneficiaries will receive a 40% subsidy on these machines, while beneficiaries from SC, ST, and extremely backward classes will receive subsidies ranging from 50% to 80%, depending on the equipment.
Subsidised equipment includes a range of tools, from advanced processing machinery like the makhana popping machine, mini dal and oil mills, electric rice mills, and chain saws, to practical field equipment such as tractor-powered mini rice mills and various types of tea pluckers. Equipment for efficient soil management and crop production, including rotary mulchers, straw balers, super seeders, happy seeders, rotary slashers, paddy straw choppers, zero-tillage machines, and reapers, will also be available to farmers at reduced prices.
Additionally, farmers can access subsidised hay racks, self-propelled reapers, brush cutters, straw reapers, and several reaper-binders. For soil preparation, tractor-driven disc ploughs and harrows, cultivators, levellers, laser land levellers, and paddy drum seeders are among the equipment being offered. Other machinery includes potato planters, rotavators, paddy transplanters, power tillers, and irrigation pipes.
Further options include manually operated plant protection tools, sprayers, chaff cutters, harvesters for specific crops like okra, storage equipment, power weeders, and a variety of threshers. From paddy threshers to self-propelled power paddy weeders, Bihar farmers will have access to a broad spectrum of machinery to improve productivity and ease their workload.
