2.1.1. Explicit Input Subsidies

Explicit input subsidies are payments made to the farmers to meet a part of the cost of an input. These are in the nature of explicit payments made to the farmer. For example, subsidy on improved or high yielding variety seeds, plant protection chemicals and equipments, improved agricultural implements and supply of mini-kits containing seeds, fertilizers and plant protection chemicals for certain crops are the explicit subsidies. These are usually made available to small and marginal farmers and those belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. The objective of such subsidies is to induce the farmers to adopt yield increasing inputs so that they are able to realize the benefits of new technology. The coverage of these subsidies in terms of crops,

inputs, regions and target groups has been changing from time to time. Explicit subsidies have formed only a small fraction of the development expenditure of Central/ State Governments