Krishak Bandhu gives West Bengal farmers direct income support of up to ₹10,000 a year plus a ₹2 lakh death or disability benefit, and it remains the state’s longest-running farmer welfare program, active since January 2019. This guide covers exactly who qualifies, how much each land category receives, how to register both online and offline, and how to check your payment status using the tools the West Bengal Department of Agriculture actually provides.
What Is the Krishak Bandhu Scheme?
Krishak Bandhu is a two-part welfare program from the West Bengal Department of Agriculture that combines yearly cash support with life insurance coverage for farmers. The state launched it on January 1, 2019, then relaunched an expanded version called Krishak Bandhu Natun (New) Scheme in 2021, when the government doubled the income-support rate from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 per year for farmers with one acre or more of land. That 2021 revision also raised the minimum payout for smaller landholders from a lower base to ₹4,000 a year, a change the Chief Minister described at the time as fulfilling a specific election promise rather than a routine budget adjustment.
The scheme runs through two components that operate independently of each other. Assured Income pays every enrolled farmer a fixed yearly amount based on land size, while the Death and Disability Benefit pays a one-time ₹2 lakh grant to the family of any enrolled farmer who dies, or to the farmer directly in case of permanent disability, between the ages of 18 and 60. Enrollment in the first component does not automatically activate the second; both require the farmer to be registered on the Krishak Bandhu portal with a valid Krishak Bandhu ID (KBID) at the time of the qualifying event.
How Much Does Krishak Bandhu Pay Based on Land Size?
Krishak Bandhu pays ₹10,000 a year to farmers holding one acre or more of cultivable land, split into two equal installments of ₹5,000 each. Farmers with less than one acre receive a pro-rata amount instead, with a guaranteed minimum of ₹4,000 a year, paid as two installments of ₹2,000 each rather than a single lump sum.
| Land Held | Annual Payment | Per Installment | Installments |
| 1 acre or more | ₹10,000 | ₹5,000 | Kharif + Rabi |
| Less than 1 acre | ₹4,000 (minimum, pro-rata) | ₹2,000 | Kharif + Rabi |
Kharif installments typically arrive between June and July, timed to the monsoon planting season, while Rabi installments follow between November and January for the winter crop cycle. Payment dates shift by a few weeks each year depending on when the state finance department clears the disbursement order, so a farmer checking on June 1 and finding no credit yet should wait rather than assume something failed.
Who Qualifies for Krishak Bandhu Income Support?
A Krishak Bandhu applicant must be a West Bengal resident who owns or cultivates recognized agricultural land, and the scheme extends this test to sharecroppers as well as titleholders. Recognized land proof includes a Record of Rights (RoR), an agricultural Patta, or a Forest Patta; the scheme also accepts registered Bhagchasi (sharecropper) status for farmers who work land they do not legally own.
Farmers without any formal land record still have a path into the scheme through self-declaration. An applicant who cannot produce an RoR or Patta can submit a self-declaration form along with a Warrison Certificate issued by the Gram Panchayat Pradhan, confirming the applicant actually cultivates the land in question; the Assistant Director of Agriculture reviews these self-declared cases individually before approving enrollment. This provision matters most for unrecorded bargadars, whose cultivation rights often exist only through informal or verbal arrangements passed down through families.
Age becomes relevant specifically for the death and disability benefit, which applies only to farmers between 18 and 60 years old at the time of death or disabling injury. Income support itself carries no upper or lower age cutoff beyond the applicant being an adult landholder or registered cultivator.
What Documents Does a Krishak Bandhu Application Require?
A standard Krishak Bandhu application needs six categories of documents, and missing land proof is the single most common reason applications stall at the block office.
- Voter ID card (EPIC number), for identity and residency verification
- Aadhaar card, linked to an active mobile number for SMS updates and DBT processing
- Bank passbook, showing the first page with account number and IFSC code
- Land records (RoR, Patta, Forest Patta, or Barga record for registered sharecroppers)
- Self-declaration form with Warrison Certificate, only for applicants without formal land documents
- Recent passport-size photograph
The Assistant Director of Agriculture’s office checks these documents against the applicant’s EPIC record during verification, so any mismatch between the name on the Voter ID and the name on the bank passbook typically triggers a rejection notice rather than an automatic correction.
How Do You Apply for Krishak Bandhu Offline?
Offline registration remains the primary application route for most farmers, since land verification generally works better face-to-face at the block level than through a purely digital upload. The process runs through the Assistant Director of Agriculture (ADA) office covering the block where the applicant’s EPIC is registered, except within Kolkata Municipal Corporation limits, which follow a different administrative path.
- Visit the ADA office for your block, or attend a scheduled Duare Sarkar (Government at Your Doorstep) camp, or use a Bangla Sahayata Kendra as an alternate registration point.
- Collect the Krishak Bandhu (Natun) application form, free of charge, from any of these locations.
- Fill in personal details, land information, and bank account details, then attach the required documents listed above.
- Submit the completed form to the authorized ADA (Block) representative, who checks the enclosures and captures your details in the Krishak Bandhu app for pre-registration.
- Collect an acknowledgment slip carrying a pre-registration ID; this becomes your tracking reference before a full KBID gets issued.
After submission, an ADA (Block) staff member scrutinizes the enclosures and enters the verified details into the Krishak Bandhu portal. If the application clears this review, the ADA (Block) generates a Krishak Bandhu ID (KBID) and the farmer’s name moves to the portal’s Approved List, with an SMS notification carrying the KBID number sent to the registered mobile. Applications that fail scrutiny get rejected with a stated reason, also delivered by SMS, which tells the applicant exactly what to fix before resubmitting.
Can You Register for Krishak Bandhu Online?
Online registration exists as a supplementary channel, though the scheme’s core verification still happens through the same block-level review as offline applications. A farmer can create an account on krishakbandhu.wb.gov.in, log in, and complete an online application form, uploading digital copies of the same documents required for the offline route.
- Visit krishakbandhu.wb.gov.in and click “Sign Up” to create a login.
- Fill in the registration form with name, father’s name, Aadhaar number, and mobile number, then submit.
- Log in using the credentials created, and open the online application form.
- Enter land details, bank account number, and IFSC code, matching your passbook exactly.
- Upload scanned Voter ID, Aadhaar, bank passbook, and land record documents in the specified format.
- Review all entries, submit, and note the confirmation reference number shown on screen.
Even after online submission, the same ADA (Block) staff perform the underlying verification before a KBID gets generated, so online registration speeds up the data-entry step without skipping the human review stage entirely.
How Do You Check Your Krishak Bandhu Status Online?
Status checking works through the farmer search tool at krishakbandhu.wb.gov.in/farmer_search, which accepts three lookup methods rather than requiring one specific ID.
- Visit krishakbandhu.wb.gov.in/farmer_search.
- Select a search option from the dropdown: Voter Card, Aadhaar Card, or “No ID Card Number” for a mobile-based search.
- Enter the corresponding number (EPIC number, Aadhaar number, or registered mobile number).
- Complete the captcha verification and click Search.
- Review the displayed status, which shows KBID, land details, and recent installment dates and amounts.
Farmers without smartphone access can send an SMS in the format “KBSTATUS” followed by their Voter ID number to 77382-99882 and receive a status reply by text, a method that bypasses the portal entirely for basic status confirmation. For direct human assistance, the official Krishak Bandhu helpline listed on the government portal runs on 033-23570021, available from 10 AM to 5 PM; other numbers circulating on third-party sites (6291720406, 8336957370, 1800-103-0002) appear on various unofficial guides, so confirming the current number on the official portal before calling avoids wasted calls to disconnected lines.
What Do Krishak Bandhu Status Results Actually Mean?
A “Payment Done” status confirms the installment cleared and reached the linked bank account, so a farmer seeing this and no corresponding bank credit should check with their branch about Aadhaar-bank seeding rather than the Krishak Bandhu portal itself. “Pending” means the state has processed approval but the actual transfer hasn’t executed yet, a status that commonly resolves within seven to ten days once the disbursement batch clears.
“Not Found” indicates either the ID entered doesn’t match any registered farmer or the applicant was never fully enrolled, and this specific result requires an in-person visit to the ADA (Block) office rather than repeated online attempts. A farmer whose land holding grew or changed since original registration and now sees an incorrect payment amount needs to submit updated land records at the same ADA office to trigger a correction request, since the portal does not auto-update payout tiers from external land databases.
How Does the Death and Disability Benefit Work?
The death and disability benefit pays ₹2 lakh as a one-time lump sum, but only if the deceased or disabled farmer was already enrolled in Krishak Bandhu with an active KBID at the time of the incident. Enrollment after death does not qualify a family for this benefit, which makes maintaining active registration a practical necessity rather than a formality.
- Visit the Block Agriculture Office (BAO) covering the farmer’s registered block.
- Submit the deceased farmer’s Krishak Bandhu ID along with a certified copy of the death certificate.
- Provide the nominee’s Aadhaar card, Voter ID, and bank passbook for verification.
- Allow the BAO to complete verification before DBT transfer of the ₹2 lakh grant to the nominee’s account.
For disability claims, the same office structure applies, with medical documentation of permanent disability substituting for the death certificate. No fixed deadline exists for filing this claim, but officials at multiple BAOs advise filing as soon as possible after the qualifying event, since delayed documentation gets harder to verify against the incident date.
How Is the Landless Farmer Scheme Different From Krishak Bandhu?
Bhumihin Krishak Bandhu is a separate 2026-27 budget scheme for landless agricultural laborers, not a tier within the main Krishak Bandhu program, despite the near-identical name causing confusion across several guides. Announced in the West Bengal 2026-27 budget, it pays ₹4,000 a year to landless workers who farm on land owned by others, split into two installments of ₹2,000 each during the Rabi and Kharif seasons, matching the minimum-tier rate of the main scheme but operating through its own registration path.
Applications for this program run through krishakbandhu.wb.gov.in/agricultural-labour rather than the main farmer portal, and enrollment during the initial 2026 window happened through camp-based form submission rather than open online registration. A dedicated helpline for this scheme (9735032374 or 7003972266, available 10 AM to 6 PM) operates separately from the main Krishak Bandhu support line, and applicants should use this number specifically for landless-scheme queries rather than the general farmer helpline, since staff on each line only handle their own program’s records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a farmer with 2 acres of land receive?
The payout caps at ₹10,000 a year regardless of holding size once a farmer crosses the one-acre threshold; owning more than one acre does not increase the payment beyond this fixed tier.
Can a sharecropper apply without owning land?
Yes. Registered Bhagchasis (sharecroppers) qualify using a Barga record, and unrecorded bargadars can apply through self-declaration backed by a Warrison Certificate from the Gram Panchayat Pradhan.
What happens if my application shows “Not Found”?
This means the ID entered doesn’t match any enrolled farmer in the system. Visit your local ADA (Block) office directly with your original documents rather than repeating the online search.
Is Krishak Bandhu the same as Bhumihin Krishak Bandhu?
No. Krishak Bandhu covers landowning and registered sharecropper farmers with payments up to ₹10,000 a year. Bhumihin Krishak Bandhu is a separate 2026-27 scheme for landless agricultural laborers, paying a flat ₹4,000 a year through a different portal path.
Does income support automatically cover the death benefit too?
Only if the farmer holds an active KBID at the time of death or disability. Enrollment after the qualifying event does not make a family eligible for the ₹2 lakh grant.
Why did my payment amount change from previous years?
Rates changed in 2021 when the government doubled income support from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 a year for one-acre-plus holdings. If your amount changed outside that policy shift, check whether your recorded land size at the ADA office matches your actual current holding.