Mushroom Production and Marketing Scheme - Uttarakhand

What is the Mushroom Production and Marketing Scheme in Uttarakhand?

Mushroom Production and Marketing Scheme (Mashroom Utpadan evam Vipnan ki Yojana) is a state-sector scheme of the Department of Horticulture and Food Processing, Government of Uttarakhand, implemented through the State Horticulture Mission. The scheme appears at serial number 1 of the department's official State DBT Mission list with scheme code 2401001191300, which means every rupee of assistance under it is released as a Direct Benefit Transfer into the beneficiary's own bank account.

Mushroom growing suits Uttarakhand for a specific reason. Button mushroom needs cool, controlled conditions, and much of the state already has them naturally for several months of the year. The crop needs no large land holding, which matters in a state where the average hill holding is tiny, and it turns crop residue into a cash crop within weeks. The department therefore chose to subsidise the two inputs that decide whether a small grower succeeds or fails: pasteurised compost and quality spawn.

What benefits does the mushroom scheme provide?

According to the subsidy schedule published by the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing at Udyan Bhawan, Chaubattia-Ranikhet (Almora), the state-sector scheme has three components:

The training component is worth reading carefully because it is unusual. The department does not simply waive a fee. It spends Rs 350 per trainee on conducting the seven-day course and transfers the remaining Rs 700 straight into the trainee's bank account, so the total cost booked per trainee is Rs 1,050. A trainee who attends the full course therefore leaves with skills and with money in the account, not a bill.

Larger units under the Horticulture Mission

Growers who want to move beyond a small growing room should look at the centrally sponsored Horticulture Mission component that the same department operates. Its published norms for mushroom production are:

• Mushroom production unit: project cost Rs 20.00 lakh per unit
• Compost production unit, project cost Rs 20.00 lakh per unit
• Spawn production unit: project cost Rs 15.00 lakh per unit

Assistance is 40 per cent of the cost for individual (private) applicants and 100 per cent for government farms, restricted to one unit per beneficiary. For an individual, 40 per cent of a Rs 20 lakh compost unit works out to Rs 8 lakh of subsidy. These are project-based sanctions, so the district office will ask for a project report and, in most cases, a bank appraisal.

Who is eligible for the mushroom scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Uttarakhand and cultivate or intend to cultivate mushrooms in the state.
• You hold land, a shed or a growing room in your own name, or hold it under a registered lease.
• You have an Aadhaar number and a bank account in your own name that can be Aadhaar-seeded for DBT.
• You are applying for a quantity within the ceiling, up to 50 quintals of compost and up to 25 kg of spawn in a year.

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

• You are not a resident of Uttarakhand or the growing location is outside the state. The scheme is funded from the state budget and is limited to Uttarakhand.
• You cannot produce any land record or lease for the growing site. A verbal arrangement is not eligible.
• You have already drawn the same component in the same financial year up to the ceiling. A second claim for compost beyond 50 quintals in the same year is not admissible.
• The bank account offered is in someone else's name. DBT will not release to a third-party account, so such files are rejected.
• You want the Rs 20 lakh unit subsidy but apply under the state-sector head. The unit subsidy sits under the Horticulture Mission and needs a separate project application.

What documents are required?

The core document set is short: the departmental application format, your Aadhaar card, the first page of your bank passbook, and the khasra / khatauni or lease deed for the growing site. At the settlement stage you will also need the bill or quotation for the compost and spawn actually bought, as the 50 per cent is worked out on the real purchase, not on a notional rate. A Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe certificate is needed only if you are claiming under one of the reserved-area horticulture sub-components.

How to apply for the Mushroom Production and Marketing Scheme

1. Download the application format. Open shm.uk.gov.in/application-formats/ and download the mushroom-related format. The department publishes an advertisement format covering mushroom, post-harvest management, marketing and FPO, and a separate "Area Expansion of fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, aromatic plants and Mushrooms" format. Printed copies are also kept at the district office.
2. Fill the form and attach documents. Enter your name as it appears on Aadhaar, your village, block and district, the growing area, and the quantity of compost and spawn you need. Attach Aadhaar, the bank passbook page and the land record or lease deed.
3. Submit it at the District Horticulture Office. Hand the file to the District Horticulture Officer or Chief Horticulture Officer of your district, or to the horticulture inspector at your block. Ask for a dated acknowledgement, this is your only proof of the date of filing.
4. Allow the site inspection. A horticulture inspector or the district officer visits the shed or growing room to confirm it exists and is fit for mushroom cultivation, then records the inspection note on the file.
5. Get the sanction and take delivery. Once sanctioned against the district's annual target, compost and spawn are supplied through the departmental channel or purchased by you against approved quotations.
6. Receive the subsidy by DBT. The 50 per cent share is credited to your Aadhaar-seeded bank account under DBT scheme code 2401001191300. Keep the bills — settlement is done against them.

How to apply for the seven-day mushroom training

1. Ask at your District Horticulture Office or the office of the Chief Mushroom Officer, Dehradun for the current training calendar.
2. Submit a written request with a copy of Aadhaar and your bank passbook page.
3. Attend all seven days. The Rs 700 payment is made against full attendance, into the account you gave at the time of enrolment.

How to check the status of your application

Uttarakhand does not publish a self-service status tracker for the state-sector horticulture schemes. The practical route is:

1. Quote the receipt number and date on your acknowledgement when you call or visit the District Horticulture Office.
2. Ask specifically whether the file is at the inspection, sanction or payment stage. Those are the three points where files sit.
3. If the account credit has not arrived after sanction, ask the office to check the DBT rejection reason. A failed credit is almost always an account or Aadhaar-seeding problem, not a sanction problem.

Why mushroom subsidy applications get rejected

• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit bounces back.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the application.
• No land record or lease for the growing site.
• Claim above the ceiling, more than 50 quintals of compost or more than 25 kg of spawn in a year.
• District target already exhausted for the financial year. This is not a defect in your file; ask for the application to be carried into the next year's list.
• Missing purchase bills at the settlement stage, which stops the subsidy computation.

Who to contact for help

• Chief Mushroom Officer, Dehradun to 0135-2665421. This is the scheme-specific officer for mushroom work in the state.
• Director, Horticulture and Food Processing to 05966-222792, Udyan Bhawan, Chaubattia-Ranikhet, Almora.
• State Horticulture Mission office, Government Garden, Circuit House, Dehradun 248003.
• District Horticulture Officer / Chief Horticulture Officer of your own district. The department publishes the full district-wise contact list under "Who's Who" and "Ease of doing business" on shm.uk.gov.in.

Applications and sanctions under the scheme are free. No fee is payable to any agent, and the subsidy is credited only to the beneficiary's own account.