CS reviews progress, implementation of HADP

Chief Secretary chairing a meetting at Jammu on Saturday.
Chief Secretary chairing a meetting at Jammu on Saturday.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 25: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo chaired a review meeting to assess the progress and performance of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) in Jammu and Kashmir in the presence of senior officers of the Agriculture Production Department and other concerned stakeholders.
The meeting besides ACS, Agriculture Production Department and MD, J&K Bank was attended by the MD, HADP; HoDs of the Department along with Representatives from Agricultural Universities here.
The meeting had an in depth review of the programme covering establishment status, key performance indicators, financial returns, employment generation and district-wise outcomes.
The Chief Secretary noted that the programme reflects strong financial viability, with a Government subsidy of around Rs 450 crore expected to be recovered within approximately 2.6 years through enhanced farm incomes. He directed the department to intensify outreach efforts and ensure greater inclusion of eligible farmers, particularly in districts with lower coverage.
The Chief Secretary laid strong emphasis on the importance of adopting a data-driven, district-specific approach to improve conversion from approvals to unit establishment, which currently stands at around 25 percent. The Chief Secretary emphasized the need to further improve training coverage and capacity building to enhance productivity and sustainability.
He reiterated that HADP has the potential to transform the agricultural landscape of J&K by enhancing farmer incomes, generating employment and promoting sustainable agriculture here. He called for ensuring sustained momentum, effective convergence and focused interventions to maximize its impact across the length and breadth of the UT.
Moreover he issued directions for faster conversion of approved applications into established units. He enjoined upon the concerned to lay focus on improvement in farmer registration and eKYC completion, strengthening of district-level monitoring and accountability, time-bound grievance redressal and scaling up of high-value agricultural activities to make this programme a success.
Regarding the functioning of Kisan Khidmat Ghars (KKGs), he directed for strengthening them further by improving licensing and expanding service delivery, including onboarding of banking and digital services at these centres.
On this occasion the ACS, Agriculture Production Department, Dr Ashish Chandra Verma gave the overall preview of the performance of this programme.
The Managing Director, J&K Bank, Amitava Chatterjee also presented a detailed roadmap aimed at maximizing benefits for farmers under HADP. He highlighted key suggestions pertaining to digital interventions, including integration and onboarding of various stakeholder platforms onto the HADP portal to enhance efficiency and outreach.
The MD HADP, Dr. Sagar Doifode Dattatray elucidated that the programme has generated an estimated annual revenue of Rs 368 Cr and annual profit of Rs 173 Cr at the beneficiary level, translating into an average income enhancement of about Rs 25,000 per family per year, besides creating over 2.45 crore man-days of employment across 287 blocks and more than 5,100 villages and wards.