Minimizing Pesticide Use in Agriculture (HADP Project 18)

What is HADP Project 18 on minimizing pesticide use?

Minimizing Pesticide Use in Agriculture is Project 18 of the all-round Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), the 29-project package of the Agriculture Production Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. HADP runs through the Kisan Sathi portal at hadp.jk.gov.in and covers more than 170 schemes and activities across crop, horticulture and livestock sectors.

Project 18 attacks a specific and well-documented problem in Kashmir's apple economy: heavy, calendar-driven pesticide spraying, applied plot by plot on fragmented and irregularly shaped orchards, which raises cost, leaves residues that hurt export prospects, and cannot be mechanised efficiently. The project's answer has two halves. The first is physical, build model apple orchards at landscape level in clusters, laid out with a proper planting geometry so that tractor-drawn sprayers and optimised operations actually work. The second is economic — create a local supply of bio-control agents, so growers have a practical alternative to chemical pesticide, by training a small cohort of entrepreneurs at the two agricultural universities.

What does HADP Project 18 provide?

Cluster orchard development

• Ten apple cluster orchards of five hectares each, one in each of the ten districts of Kashmir valley.
• Each cluster is developed at landscape level with proper geometry for automation and optimisation of operations.
• The cluster orchards are managed by the project team for five years.
• Growers bear the yearly input charges on account of pesticides; the project bears the management.

Development of agri-entrepreneurs in bio-control agents

• A maximum of five candidates from each district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Two months of training in SKUAST-Kashmir or SKUAST-Jammu laboratories.
• Boarding and lodging during the training met from the project budget.
• Technical guidance for establishing a bio-control production unit.

The Director Research, SKUAST-Kashmir is the officer who invites Expressions of Interest for the cluster orchards, and the Directors Research of SKUAST-Kashmir and SKUAST-Jammu jointly invite EoIs for the bio-control entrepreneurship component from anyone interested in either region.

Who is eligible for HADP Project 18?

You can be selected for a cluster orchard if:

• You own an apple orchard in one of the ten districts of Kashmir valley, and your orchard neighbours those of other growers who are also willing to join. The EoI is explicitly addressed to "growers with neighbouring orchards".
• Your land is flat. Preference is given to growers with flat land more suitable for tractor-drawn spraying machines, where the least investment is required for levelling and land development.
• You are willing to hand over management to the project team for five years and to furnish an affidavit that you will cooperate with all the conditions and guidelines the project team prescribes.

You can be selected as a bio-control entrepreneur if:

• You are interested in entrepreneurship in bio-control agents, from either the Jammu or the Kashmir region. The EoI is open to anyone.
• You apply early, because selection is on a first-come-first-served basis.
• Preference is given if you are a graduate in agriculture or an allied sector.

You cannot apply if:

• Your orchard is outside the ten districts of Kashmir valley. The cluster orchard component is confined to apple-growing districts of the valley, so growers in Jammu division are not eligible for that half of the project, although the bio-control entrepreneurship half is open to both regions.
• Your orchard is isolated and cannot be joined into a contiguous five-hectare block with neighbouring orchards.
• Your land needs heavy levelling. The selection criteria deliberately favour sites requiring least investment in land development.
• You are unwilling to sign the cooperation affidavit or to let the project team manage the orchard for five years.
• You expect a cash subsidy against pesticide purchases. Project 18 has no such component; pesticide input charges remain the grower's own cost.

What documents are required?

How to apply for HADP Project 18

1. Watch for the Expression of Interest issued by the Director Research, SKUAST-Kashmir for cluster orchard development in your district. The EoI is the only entry route; there is no rolling application form.
2. Talk to your neighbouring growers first. A single grower rarely has five contiguous hectares. Agree jointly to apply so the block can be developed at landscape level.
3. Submit the joint application with revenue records for every parcel, a sketch or geo-coordinates of the contiguous block, and a note on the topography and existing plantation.
4. File the affidavit of cooperation, stating that all participating growers will comply with the conditions prescribed by the project team for the five-year management period.
5. Attend the site assessment. The project team checks contiguity, slope and the level of development work the site would need. Where two applications from the same district have similar topography, the earlier application wins.
6. For the bio-control route, apply separately to the Director Research of SKUAST-Kashmir or SKUAST-Jammu when their EoI is issued, attaching your degree certificate and Aadhaar. Report for the two-month laboratory training on the date given in the selection letter.

How to check your status and follow up

The two universities publish selection lists through their Directorate of Research; that is where the outcome of both components appears. Separately, register on hadp.jk.gov.in as a farmer so that you receive HADP notifications and can see the full list of 29 projects and their schemes. The block Agriculture Extension Officer and the district Chief Horticulture Officer can confirm whether an EoI for your district has been issued.

Common reasons an application fails

• Non-contiguous land. The design is a landscape-level cluster; scattered parcels cannot be accepted.
• Sloping or undeveloped land that would need substantial levelling, which the selection criteria explicitly work against.
• A later application when another group in the same district applied earlier with comparable topography.
• No affidavit, or an affidavit not signed by all participating growers.
• Applying to a district office instead of the university. Project 18 is run by the Directorate of Research at SKUAST, not by the district agriculture office.
• Applying after the district's five bio-control slots are filled, since that component runs first-come-first-served.

Help and grievance redressal

• Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department, Jammu: 0191-2505201, email devagri-jk@jk.gov.in
• Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department, Kashmir: 0194-2310265
• HADP portal: hadp.jk.gov.in, including its grievance section
• Director Research, SKUAST-Kashmir and SKUAST-Jammu, for EoI and selection queries
• Daksh Kisan at dakshkisan.jk.gov.in, which carries free HADP training courses including modules on integrated pest management

Participation in HADP Project 18 costs nothing. No agent can place your orchard in a cluster, and no official will ask for an OTP from your phone.