Promotion of Mushroom Cultivation (HADP Project 10)

What is HADP Project 10 on mushroom cultivation?

Promotion of Mushroom Cultivation is the tenth of the 29 projects cleared under the all-round Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), the Rs 5,013 crore five-year package of the Agriculture Production Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mushroom growing suits Jammu and Kashmir better than almost any other horticultural enterprise. It needs very little land, uses paddy straw and other farm waste as substrate, gives a return in weeks rather than seasons, and runs indoors, which matters in a union territory where the field season is short and winters are long. What has held it back is the missing back end: without reliable pasteurised compost and quality spawn, a grower's crop fails no matter how good the shed is.

HADP Project 10 funds the whole chain. It builds public compost units, spawn labs and cropping rooms at District Cum Training Centres where none exist, and it subsidises private sheds, cropping rooms, spawn labs, compost bags, canning and packaging for growers.

What are the subsidy rates under HADP Project 10?

Production and growth

Compost bags are capped at not more than 100 bags per beneficiary. The project provides for 300 mushroom sheds, 56 private cropping rooms, 12 private compost units, 6 private spawn labs and 1,50,000 compost bags.

Post-harvest management, value addition and marketing

Capacity building, all at 100 per cent of cost under ATMA norms:

• Exposure visit outside the union territory for five days, Rs 1,000 per grower per day, covering transport, boarding and lodging.
• Training within the union territory; Rs 1,000 per grower per day.
• Residential training within the district; Rs 400 per grower per day.
• Non-residential training within the district, Rs 250 per grower per day.

Public sector research is funded at 100 per cent for introduction and promotion of new mushrooms and strains, with emphasis on medicinal mushrooms, and for standardising locally available substrates and value added products.

Who is eligible for HADP Project 10?

You can seek assistance if:

• You are a resident of Jammu and Kashmir growing mushrooms, or intending to start, with a site you own or hold on registered lease.
• You are an FPO, Self Help Group, or a grower in a mushroom cluster area, or a progressive grower. The guidelines say preference will be given to these categories for almost every private-sector component.
• You are a Women Self Help Group, which qualifies for the Rs 10,000 per group revolving fund and is specifically named for that component.
• You can meet the beneficiary share on a shed, cropping room, spawn lab or compost unit, from own funds or bank credit.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You have already availed the same activity under NHB, MIDH or another scheme. HADP prohibits duplication of activities.
• You are seeking a public sector component. The 35 MT compost unit, the 20 MT spawn lab, or public cropping units. These are built at District Cum Training Centres in potential areas where such facilities do not already exist, and individuals are not eligible for them.
• You want more than 100 compost bags, which exceeds the per-beneficiary cap.
• You are not resident in Jammu and Kashmir.
• You want a credit-linked case handled offline — no offline credit-linked HADP case is accepted.

How to apply for HADP Project 10

1. Register on the Kisan Sathi portal at hadp.jk.gov.in with your mobile number and Aadhaar details.
2. Log in and open Project 10 to Promotion of Mushroom Cultivation.
3. Choose from the nine activity forms listed: pasteurised compost making unit (15 MT), controlled conditioned cropping rooms (40 x 18 x 16) without PA, spawn production lab (2 MT), mushroom sheds (16 x 25 x 12 ft), pasteurised compost bags, mushroom canning unit, processing and packaging equipment, solar dryer, or the revolving fund for Women SHGs.
4. Enter the site details, the proposed capacity and, for compost bags, the number required; remembering the 100-bag cap.
5. Prepare a DPR through the portal's DPR Generator for the capital units, and upload it with Aadhaar, site papers and bank passbook.
6. Submit the application and note the reference number.
7. If credit is required, the case is sponsored electronically to your bank branch, which may seek further documents under RBI norms.
8. Build the shed, room or unit, then let the departmental committee verify it. Subsidy is released back-ended through DBT, or into the loan account with a three-year lock-in.

How to apply with offline help

1. Visit a Kisan Khidmat Ghar in your panchayat and ask the operator to file the mushroom form on Kisan Sathi.
2. Attend a training at your District Cum Training Centre first. Mushroom growing fails more often on technique than on infrastructure, and the trainings under this project are fully funded, with a daily allowance for the grower.
3. Ask the block office whether your area is a recognised mushroom cluster, because cluster growers are explicitly preferred in beneficiary selection.

How do I check my application status?

1. Log in to hadp.jk.gov.in with your registered mobile number.
2. The applicant dashboard shows each application at its stage; submitted, under verification, sponsored to bank, sanctioned or released.
3. For a sanction with no credit, verify that your bank account is active and Aadhaar-seeded.

Why mushroom applications get rejected

• Duplication, a shed or cropping room already availed under MIDH or NHB.
• More than 100 compost bags claimed by one beneficiary.
• Structure not built to the specified dimensions to 16 x 25 x 12 ft for a shed, 40 x 18 x 16 ft for a cropping room, so the verifying committee cannot certify it.
• No site title, or a site held on an unregistered arrangement.
• Weak DPR for a compost unit or spawn lab, where projected offtake is not supported by the number of growers in the cluster.
• Bank refusal on the credit component of a Rs 20 lakh cropping room or a Rs 50 lakh compost unit.

Where do I raise a complaint?

• Use the Grievance link on hadp.jk.gov.in and follow up under Grievance Status.
• Contact the Agriculture Production Department at 0191-2505201 (Jammu) or devagri-jk@jk.gov.in.
• Escalate through your Chief Agriculture Officer or the Mission Directorate, HADP.

Registration on Kisan Sathi is free, and the trainings under this project are fully funded, a grower should never be asked to pay for a HADP mushroom training or for a subsidised compost bag.