The agriculture department has managed to disburse only Rs 23 crore or around 13 per cent of the Rs 175-crore subsidy earmarked for farm implements in the 2016-17 financial year. Only 4,868 farmers in Bihar received the subsidy to buy machines for sowing and harvesting of crops.

Bihar is predominantly an agrarian state, where 89 per cent of its 11 crore population resides in villages and 76 per cent is dependent on agriculture for livelihood.

Principal agriculture secretary Sudhir Kumar, in the presence of agriculture minister Ram Vichar Rai, said: "A total of 1.3 lakh farmers in the state bought agricultural implements of which 25,028 were physically verified by agriculture coordinators. But only 4,868 farmers could get subsidy on gadgets they bought."

Talking on the sidelines of a programme at which agriculture director Himanshu Kumar Rai, horticulture director Arvinder Kumar Singh and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Bihar State Council vice-president Prabhat Kumar Sinha were present to inform about the forthcoming Agriculture Mechanisation Fair from February 22 to 25, Sudhir admitted that delays were taking place in the release of subsidy and expressed hope that its transfer would be expedited to ensure disbursal of around 60 to 70 per cent subsidy by March 31.

Government rules stipulate that departments have to surrender unspent money and the agriculture department is gearing up to utilise as much of the Rs 175-crore subsidy as possible. The delays were attributed to agriculture coordinators' process of slow verification of implements the farmers bought.

The principal agriculture secretary pointed out that the low disbursal of subsidy could be owing to the implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) into bank accounts of beneficiaries.

"Earlier, the subsidy was released to dealers, who used to take interest in pushing everything to avail it. One of the reasons in delay in disbursals is DBT. However, these are just teething troubles and we intend to tide over it quickly. DBT is a good thing as it brings transparency and cuts chances of wrongdoings," Sudhir said.

The agriculture department has decided to make advance withdrawal of total subsidy amount from the next financial year and keep it in a separate bank account.

"So far, the process entails sending bills after verification to the treasury, which then releases the amount. This leads to inordinate delay in release of subsidy. The new process we are going to adopt will cut this down," Sudhir added.

About the farm mechanisation fair, Ram Vichar Rai said it will be one of the biggest in the eastern region and will have more than 100 stalls from states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.