A targeted agricultural modernisation initiative has been rolled out in the Madhubani district of Bihar to provide direct technological support to local growers. Under this program by the agriculture department, farming communities across seven designated administrative blocks will receive access to aerial drone spraying services at a substantial 50 percent subsidy. The intervention seeks to minimise manual labour, ensure precise chemical application, and significantly trim farm input costs.
Permitted Applications and Subsidy Framework
The drone assistance mechanism covers a wide spectrum of essential crop-care treatments across standing farmlands. Participating farmers can utilise these unmanned aerial vehicles to disperse chemical insecticides, weedicides, liquid DAP, and nano urea. Hand-spraying frequently leads to uneven coverage and chemical wastage, whereas drone dispersal distributes droplets evenly over crops within minutes. Under the approved guidelines, the state provides a 50 percent financial concession on land parcels ranging from a minimum of 1 acre to a maximum limit of 15 acres per applicant.
Cost Calculations and DBT Reimbursement System
Ranjeet Singh from the Plant Protection department stated that the agriculture department has fixed the standard operational rate for aerial spraying at Rs 418 per acre. With the 50 percent state grant factored in, the net payable expense for the cultivator comes down to just Rs 209 per acre. When growers procure approved agricultural chemicals from reputed vendors, they are required to upload the official purchase bills onto the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) portal. Following departmental verification, the government releases the Rs 209 reimbursement component, while the cultivator covers the matching half of the cost. Both land-owning title holders (raiyat) and sharecroppers (non-raiyat) are eligible to enrol under the prescribed acreage thresholds.
Acreage Target and Block-Level Zoning
Madhubani district has received an aggregate operational target to conduct aerial spraying across 11,235 acres of farmland. However, the exercise is restricted strictly to seven specific blocks rather than the whole administrative district. Madhubani comprises 21 administrative divisions, out of which 14 blocks fall under restricted red-zone categories where flight permissions are barred. Only 7 blocks are categorised under the permissible yellow zone. The seven beneficiary locations approved for agricultural drone operations are Pandaul, Bisfi, Rahika, Rajnagar, Jhanjharpur, Lakhnaur, and Phulparas.
Application Procedure and Operational Window
Growers intending to leverage the subsidised drone service must submit an online request through the official DBT portal using their established farmer registration identification. Once the digital entry is logged, authorised service providers will travel to the applicant's ward, panchayat, or block jurisdiction to survey the site and assess ground conditions before scheduling the aerial sortie. Cultivators located within these seven eligible blocks in Madhubani can enrol and utilise the service throughout the operational window stretching from October 2026 through February 2027.
