Ziraat Times Team Report
New Delhi: India’s expanding push toward circular agriculture is opening up fresh economic possibilities, with policymakers highlighting the untapped potential of agricultural waste as a driver of clean energy, soil health and rural employment.
Official data indicates that India generates nearly 350 million tonnes of agricultural residue annually, including crop straw, husk, orchard prunings, food processing waste and animal dung. Much of this biomass remains underutilised or is disposed of through burning, contributing to pollution and carbon emissions. However, under a structured circular economy framework, this waste is increasingly being viewed as a valuable economic resource. And there are multiple opportunities for J&K’s youth to create green enterprises and turn its agricultural waste into jobs.
J&K’s horticulture-driven economy, combined with expanding dairy and crop production, provides a strong foundation for a circular agriculture transition. Unlike large mechanised states, J&K can develop decentralised, community-based waste utilisation systems suited to its terrain and farm structure.
National momentum
The Government of India has strengthened crop residue management through sustained financial and institutional support. Under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) initiative, ₹3,926 crore has been released between 2018–19 and 2025–26, leading to the establishment of over 42,000 Custom Hiring Centres and deployment of more than 3.24 lakh farm machinery units to support residue handling.
The Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARdhan) initiative has further accelerated biomass utilisation. As of January 2026, 979 biogas plants were operational across more than half of India’s districts, converting agricultural and livestock waste into compressed biogas (CBG) and organic fertiliser.
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is supporting infrastructure creation under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), which has sanctioned over ₹66,000 crore for post-harvest management, storage and processing facilities. Complementing this, the Ministry of Jal Shakti is promoting wastewater reuse in agriculture under national water conservation programmes.
Officials say that agricultural residues alone could generate more than 18,000 MW of renewable power annually, while circular agriculture is projected to create up to 10 million jobs nationwide by 2050.
The J&K opportunity:
While northern plains states often dominate discussions around crop residue, experts believe Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) possesses unique advantages to leverage agricultural waste for economic gain.
Apple prunings and horticulture residue
J&K’s horticulture sector, particularly apple cultivation, generates substantial quantities of pruned wood every year. Instead of being burned or discarded, this biomass can be utilised for:
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Biomass briquette and pellet manufacturing
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Biochar production for soil enrichment
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Small-scale decentralised power generation
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Wood-based craft and value-added processing
Setting up district-level biomass aggregation and processing clusters could generate jobs in collection, sorting, transport, pelletisation and marketing.
Paddy straw and maize residue
In areas like the Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu division, paddy and maize cultivation produces straw and husk that can be used for:
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Compressed biogas (CBG) plants
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Mushroom cultivation
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Organic compost production
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Livestock feed processing
Custom Hiring Centres similar to those created under the CRM scheme could be replicated in J&K to enable mechanised residue collection, creating both seasonal and permanent employment.
3. Dairy and livestock waste
With dairy activity expanding in districts such as Jammu, Samba and Pulwama, dung-based biogas units under the GOBARdhan framework could support:
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Community biogas plants
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Organic manure packaging enterprises
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Rural energy cooperatives
Such decentralised units can generate employment in plant operation, maintenance, manure marketing and local energy distribution.
Youth-led green enterprises
J&K faces persistent youth unemployment challenges. Circular agriculture offers scope for:
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Startup-led bioenergy ventures
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FPO-managed compost and biochar units
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Rural logistics chains for biomass aggregation
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Machine rental and maintenance services
Given the region’s smaller farm sizes, cooperative models and cluster-based aggregation systems would be particularly effective.
Policy levers for J&K
To unlock this potential, experts suggest:
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Dedicated biomass mapping of districts
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Capital subsidies for small and medium-scale bioenergy units
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Linking agri waste projects to carbon credit markets
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Integrating waste-to-wealth projects with horticulture missions
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Converging central schemes like AIF and AHIDF with UT-level policies.
