Do tenant farmers and sharecroppers qualify for state income-support schemes?

It depends entirely on the scheme, so this is one to check carefully rather than assume. Many farmer income-support schemes are tied to the land record, which means the registered landowner receives the money and a tenant or sharecropper who farms someone else's land may not qualify under the main route. However, some state schemes were deliberately designed to include landless cultivators or sharecroppers through separate components, KALIA in Odisha being a well-known example that aimed to cover landless agricultural labourers and sharecroppers too. Because the rules vary by state and have been revised over time, the right step is to ask at your block or mandal agriculture office which scheme in your state, if any, covers tenants or sharecroppers, and what proof they accept in place of an ownership record. Some states accept a recorded tenancy or a cultivation certificate; others do not. Do not rely on what worked for a friend in another state. If your state has no tenant route in its income-support scheme, ask the office about other support such as crop loans, insurance, or input subsidies that you may still access as a cultivator.