Reorienting Priorities: Self-Sufficiency in Mutton Production in J&K (HADP Project 24)

What is HADP Project 24?

"Reorienting Priorities: Self-Sufficiency in Mutton Production in J&K" is Project 24 of the all-round Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) of the Agriculture Production Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, implemented through the Sheep Husbandry Department, Jammu and Kashmir, and monitored by the concerned Directors of Sheep Husbandry.

Jammu and Kashmir consumes far more mutton than it produces, and the gap is filled by live animals trucked in from Rajasthan and other states. Project 24 tries to close that gap by converting the small ruminant sector from an unorganised to an organised activity: through capital subsidy for entrepreneurs, horizontal expansion of flocks among ordinary farmers, aggregation through FPOs, and modern slaughter and marketing infrastructure.

The project has four distinct benefit routes: breed-based farms for entrepreneurs, sheep or goat units of 50 animals for farmers, FPO Common Facilitation Centres, and abattoirs integrated with sheep mandis. It also lays down the quarantine protocol for imported breeding animals.

Who is eligible for HADP Project 24?

You can apply if you are:

• Any individual, group of individuals, Self Help Group, cooperative society or Farmer Producer Organisation, for the horizontal expansion component of 50 ewes or does.
• An individual entrepreneur, SHG, FPO, FCO, JLG or Section 8 company, for the breed-based farm of minimum 500 females and 25 males.
• An FPO, FPC or SHG, for a Common Facilitation Centre with shearing, health and breeding cover and preliminary wool processing.
• An FPO, for an abattoir integrated with a sheep mandi.

Conditions you must meet:

• Sufficient land holding, infrastructure, fodder or grazing and manpower resources to maintain the unit on an organised pattern. This is checked before selection.
• Willingness to have all inducted animals UID tagged and registered on INAPH, NDLM or the Smart Sheep portal, with the concerned Veterinary Assistant Surgeon updating status regularly.
• Willingness to maintain a separate flock book with all necessary recordings.
• Installation of a metallic signboard of at least 3 feet by 2 feet outside the unit with full details, for supervision and monitoring.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not have the land, shed, fodder or grazing access and manpower to run the unit on an organised pattern. This is the principal disqualifier.
• You intend to dispose of the parent stock within two years. Parent stock must be used exclusively for propagation of livestock for at least that period.
• You want subsidy for working capital, a personal vehicle, purchase of land, or rent and lease of land: all four are expressly excluded from the breed-based farm subsidy.
• You plan to buy animals below breedable age. Sheep and goats must be procured at a breedable age of 1.5 to 2 years.

Selection of beneficiaries for the horizontal expansion component is made by a committee comprising the District Sheep Husbandry Officer, a member from the District Administration, and the concerned Veterinary Assistant Surgeon.

How much subsidy does Project 24 give?

The subsidy for a 50-animal unit is fixed per unit of fifty. If an entrepreneur sets up a hundred sheep or goats, the entitlement is two times the single-unit subsidy, and so on in multiples.

For the breed-based farm, the first instalment of 50 per cent subsidy is released upfront to the scheduled bank for credit to the entrepreneur's account after the bank releases the first loan instalment and the Department confirms it. The balance 50 per cent follows completion of the project, certified by the Department. In a self-financed project, the bank appraises the project, the first instalment is released to the lending bank once the beneficiary has spent 25 per cent of project cost on infrastructure and the Department has verified it, and the beneficiary must furnish a bank guarantee valid for three years in the Department's name for the project cost beyond the subsidy sought. Follow-up of the project runs for three years after completion.

How to apply for HADP Project 24

1. Register on the HADP Kisan Sathi portal at hadp.jk.gov.in, and open the Project 24 page to see which components are open in your district.
2. Submit the application at the office of the District Sheep Husbandry Officer (DSHO) of your district, with the land record, Aadhaar, bank passbook and supporting documents. Abattoir and loan-linked applications are submitted online where the Department has opened that facility.
3. Face the selection committee. The DSHO, a District Administration representative and the concerned Veterinary Assistant Surgeon assess your eligibility, land, fodder access and manpower.
4. If you need a loan, tell the DSHO. You deposit 10 per cent marginal money; the DSHO forwards your proforma bill, application copy and a covering letter to the bank; the bank sanctions under RBI guidelines; and after the bank's NOC the DSHO processes the subsidy, which goes to the bank as back-ended subsidy.
5. Establish the unit: procure animals of 1.5 to 2 years, get them UID tagged and registered on INAPH, NDLM or the Smart Sheep portal, open the flock book, and put up the 3 feet by 2 feet metallic signboard.
6. Submit the invoice and ask for physical verification. The verification team constituted by the DSHO must inspect within 15 days, and the subsidy must be released within 30 days of complete documentation, through DBT.

What support comes with the subsidy?

Beneficiaries of the horizontal expansion component also receive, from the Sheep Husbandry Department:

• Optimal breeding cover
• Veterinary health care
• Technical guidance at the doorstep
• Machine sheep shearing
• Remunerative prices for sale of elite germplasm produced by the unit
• Veterinary health care and management at alpine and highland pastures

Units may be established in clusters for easier management, breeding cover and impact assessment, and breed selection — sheep or goat, is made according to the requirement of both the Department and the beneficiary.

Imported breeding animals and quarantine

Where breeding animals are imported, Project 24 lays down a detailed protocol. A licence from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, is required for live animals not in the free category, along with the health requirement issued by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The quarantine facility must hold no live animal for 21 days before the imported animals arrive, must be under disease surveillance, must have separate provision for disposal of excreta and bedding, and must meet biosecurity requirements including a compound wall, entry and exit gates and SOPs for labour movement.

Samples are drawn from imported animals 3 to 5 days after arrival for testing of anthrax, border disease, Brucella ovis and blue tongue. The Quarantine Clearance Certificate from the Quarantine Officer, AQCS Delhi is issued only after 30 days of quarantine requirements and post-import test reports are satisfied.

Why applications get rejected

• Land, fodder or manpower found insufficient at the selection committee stage.
• Animals below breedable age, or not UID tagged and registered on the livestock portals.
• No flock book or no signboard, both of which the monitoring committee checks.
• Parent stock sold within two years, which triggers recovery.
• Claims for excluded heads; working capital, personal vehicle, land purchase, rent or lease.
• Self-financed project without the three-year bank guarantee in the Department's name.
• Annual district target exhausted, since sanctions run against yearly allocations.

Help and grievance redressal

• District Sheep Husbandry Officer (DSHO) of your district, the first point of contact for applications, verification and subsidy release
• Director, Sheep Husbandry Department, Jammu / Kashmir, who constitutes the monitoring committee and publishes the beneficiary list with addresses and photographs on the departmental website
• 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

All subsidy under Project 24 is released through DBT. If verification is delayed beyond 15 days or release beyond 30 days, escalate in writing to the Director, Sheep Husbandry, quoting the date on which you submitted your invoice.