Mission Apple - Uttarakhand

What is Mission Apple in Uttarakhand?

Mission Apple: Mission Apple Yojana in the department's own listing, is a state-sector scheme of the Department of Horticulture and Food Processing, Government of Uttarakhand, implemented through the State Horticulture Mission. It appears at serial number 7 of the department's State DBT Mission list with scheme code 2401001193100, so assistance is released as a Direct Benefit Transfer into the grower's own bank account.

The mission exists because Uttarakhand's apple orchards have been ageing out. Much of the state's apple area was planted decades ago on seedling rootstock in the old low-density pattern, large trees, wide spacing, long juvenile period, declining yields, and varieties that no longer command the best price. Meanwhile apple production has shifted towards high-density planting on clonal rootstock, which puts many more, smaller, easier-to-manage trees on the same land and brings them into bearing years earlier. The department's stated objective for Mission Apple is to promote apple production and productivity through high technology, by encouraging farmers to adopt high-density planting using improved high-yielding varieties and clonal rootstocks, with micro-irrigation and planned orchard technique, and it adds that clonal rootstock will also be made available to growers.

How much does Mission Apple pay?

According to the subsidy schedule published by the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing at Chaubattia-Ranikhet, Almora:

Worked through:

• The cost norm is Rs 12,00,000 per acre.
• The state pays 80 per cent, which is about Rs 9,60,000.
• The grower contributes roughly Rs 2,40,000.
• The ceiling is one acre per beneficiary.

This is by a wide margin the most generous per-unit assistance in Uttarakhand's horticulture portfolio, and the reason is that a high-density orchard is a genuinely large capital job. The Rs 12 lakh per acre norm has to cover a few thousand plants on clonal rootstock, the trellis or support system that high-density trees need, drip or micro-sprinkler irrigation, and site preparation. A grower attempting the same thing unaided would have to find that money up front and wait three to four years for the first commercial crop.

Who is eligible for Mission Apple?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer resident in Uttarakhand with land in one of the state's apple-growing belts.
• The land is recorded in your name in the khasra or khatauni, or held under a registered lease.
• The site has suitable altitude and chilling hours for apple, as confirmed by the District Horticulture Officer.
• You have an assured water source, because micro-irrigation is part of the design and a high-density orchard cannot be run on rainfall.
• You have an Aadhaar number and a bank account in your own name capable of taking a DBT credit.
• You can meet the 20 per cent own contribution, roughly Rs 2.4 lakh for a full acre.

You cannot apply, or will not be eligible, if:

• Your site does not meet the chilling requirement for apple. A low-altitude plot is not eligible, however good the paperwork.
• The land is unrecorded or disputed and no registered lease is produced.
• You want the 80 per cent rate on more than one acre. Area beyond the one-acre ceiling is not eligible under Mission Apple.
• You plant first and apply afterwards, leaving no pre-sanction inspection on the file.
• You buy planting material from a source the department does not accept. The department publishes standards and protocols for fruit planting material and an accredited nursery list precisely so that this does not happen.
• The bank account offered is not in your own name.

What documents are required?

The file needs the departmental fruit plantation / area expansion application format, the khasra / khatauni, your Aadhaar card, the first page of your bank passbook, proof of a water source, a project estimate covering plants, support system and micro-irrigation, and a source certificate for the planting material. Because this is a large sanction, district offices scrutinise the estimate and the planting-material source far more closely than in the smaller input schemes.

How to apply for Mission Apple

1. Talk to the District Horticulture Officer first. Before anything else, confirm that your site is fit for high-density apple, altitude, aspect, chilling hours, soil depth and water. This one conversation saves most rejected files.
2. Download the application format from shm.uk.gov.in/application-formats/, or collect a printed copy from the district office.
3. Prepare the project estimate for one acre; number of plants, rootstock type, variety, trellis or support system, micro-irrigation layout and site preparation.
4. Fill the form and attach the papers; land record, Aadhaar, bank passbook page, water source proof, the estimate and the proposed planting-material source.
5. Submit the file at the District Horticulture Office and take a dated acknowledgement.
6. Allow the pre-sanction site inspection, in which the inspector verifies the plot, the area, the water source and the suitability of the site.
7. Receive the sanction against the district's annual target. The sanction letter names the approved area, the cost base and the payable subsidy.
8. Plant the orchard in the correct season using accepted planting material, install the micro-irrigation, and keep every bill.
9. Get the completion inspection done and submit the bills. The 80 per cent share is credited to your Aadhaar-seeded account under DBT scheme code 2401001193100.

When should you apply?

Apple is planted in the dormant winter window, so the whole sequence, site inspection, sanction, arranging plants from an accredited nursery, laying out the irrigation: has to be finished before that window opens. Apply several months ahead of the planting season, not in the planting month itself. Clonal rootstock plants in particular are booked well in advance, and a sanction that arrives after the nurseries are sold out is a sanction wasted for a whole year.

How to check the status of your application

Uttarakhand does not run a public status tracker for its state-sector horticulture schemes. Quote your acknowledgement number and date at the District Horticulture Office and ask which stage the file is at: registration, site inspection, sanction, planting verification, or payment. Because Mission Apple is a staged, high-value sanction, ask specifically which instalment or stage has been cleared rather than whether the file is "approved".

Why Mission Apple applications get rejected

• Site not suitable for apple: insufficient chilling hours or altitude.
• No assured water source for micro-irrigation.
• Land not recorded in the applicant's name and no registered lease.
• Planting material from an unaccredited nursery, or without a source certificate.
• Planting done before sanction, so no pre-sanction inspection exists.
• Own contribution not arranged, leaving the orchard half-built at the completion inspection.
• District target exhausted for the financial year.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails.

Related schemes for apple growers

• Fencing of Old Orchards Scheme — 50 per cent subsidy for fencing against wild animals, with the fencing construction grant raised to Rs 1.00 lakh per hectare.
• Rejuvenation of old orchards to 50 per cent or Rs 20,000 per hectare, up to 2 hectares, for old unproductive orchards that are not being replaced with a high-density block.
• Ultra-high-density fruit area expansion under the Horticulture Mission to 50 per cent of Rs 1,00,000 per hectare with micro-irrigation, released over three years in a 60:20:20 pattern, up to 4 hectares.
• Anti-hail net to 50 per cent or a maximum of Rs 17.50 per square metre, up to 5,000 square metres. Hail is the single biggest weather risk to an Uttarakhand apple crop.
• Fruit crop insurance, in which the grower pays 5 per cent of the premium with the balance shared 50:50 between the central and state governments.
• Post-harvest infrastructure, pack houses at 50 per cent of Rs 4.00 lakh per unit, cold rooms of 30 metric tonnes at 50 per cent of Rs 15.00 lakh in hilly and scheduled areas, and controlled-atmosphere storage at 50 per cent of Rs 20,000 per metric tonne in those areas.
• Market intervention, under which the department arranges procurement of C-grade apple, pear, malta and galgal at support prices on a no-profit-no-loss basis.

Who to contact for help

• Director, Horticulture and Food Processing to 05966-222792, Udyan Bhawan, Chaubattia-Ranikhet, Almora.
• State Horticulture Mission; Government Garden, Circuit House, Dehradun

• Joint Director, Garhwal Region, Pauri to 01368-222227.
• Joint Director, Kumaon Region, Nainital to 05942-221288.
• District Horticulture Officer / Chief Horticulture Officer of your district; the district-wise list is published under "Who's Who" on shm.uk.gov.in.

Applying is free. The subsidy is credited only to the beneficiary's own account, and no agent may charge a fee for getting a Mission Apple file sanctioned.