Haryana sets target of 1L acre under ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ scheme

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Haryana, has set an ambitious target of covering 1 lakh acres under the ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ (MPMV) scheme during the kharif 2025 season. The flagship state initiative seeks to reduce the dependency on water-intensive paddy cultivation and encourage crop diversification to conserve groundwater.

The department has issued district-wise targets for the scheme, aiming to replace paddy with alternative crops such as cotton, maize, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, horticulture crops, fodder and agro-forestry.

Out of the total target, 39,835 acres are allocated for cotton followed by 29,080 acres for fodder/fallow, 15,285 acres for vegetables/horticulture, 6,440 acres for agro-forestry, 5,245 acres for pulses, 3,500 acres for maize and 615 acres for oilseeds.

The highest target has been assigned to Sirsa (17,950 acres), followed by Yamunanagar (12,305), Jind (11,510), Fatehabad (8,980), Hisar (8,810), and Kaithal (7,210). Other districts have been given targets ranging between 125 acres and 6,400 acres, depending on their agro-climatic suitability.

To promote participation, farmers opting to diversify from paddy will receive an incentive of Rs 8,000 per acre.

As per the scheme guidelines, the following categories of farmers are eligible: Those who cultivated paddy last year and now opt for an approved alternate crop, those who had diversified under MPMV in last kharif season and are continuing with the alternate crops and those who leave their last year's paddy fields fallow this season.

However, farmers who already grew non-paddy crops in the same field during any of the past four years will not be eligible for the incentive.

Interested farmers must register on the MFMB portal. The incentive will be disbursed after the procurement season, based on verification reports generated from the portal.

While the delay in releasing the targets — despite the paddy transplantation already beginning — has caused some concern, officials remain optimistic.

Dr Jasvinder Saini, Deputy Director Agriculture, Ambala, said: “The department has been motivating the farmers to adopt crop diversification. Targets under the Mera Pani Meri Virasat Scheme have been released and directions have been issued to the field staff to motivate the farmers.”

He said, “Farmers who have made up their minds to switch to alternate crops will adopt the scheme. Interest in agro-forestry and vegetables is increasing steadily and we are hopeful Ambala will meet its target of 5,060 acres under the scheme.”