Mushroom production has tremendous potential as an income-generating activity. It is labour and management-intensive and there is ample scope for the mushroom industry to thrive and become a lucrative business for the unemployed rural youth, self-help groups, and farm women who are in search of viable activities which are promising and giving good returns and an additional income source for the farmer.
Mushrooms are important not only from a nutritional and medicinal point of view but also for income generation and export. It requires little space or land and hence it is of great importance for landless and marginal landholders. It grows independent of sunlight, feeds on organic matter, and does not require fertile soil. In addition to the floor, air space is also utilised resulting in higher productivity.
Mushroom cultivation can provide additional income to farmers who wish to take up this activity, especially in their lean season. Mushroom cultivation can effectively utilise agricultural residues to produce protein-rich food and plays a crucial role in the management of agro residues. Mushroom farming has become a popular trend in recent years, with more and more people taking up the hobby of growing their mushrooms. Not only is it a fun and rewarding activity, but it can also be a lucrative business venture.
An example of successful oyster mushroom cultivation is Mr. Rajdip Koch, a farmer from Horin Kota Village, Resubelpara Block of North Garo Hills District. He grows crops like rice and other seasonal vegetables but looking for an additional source of income for his family, he made an effort to enhance his income generation through oyster mushroom cultivation.
He started oyster mushroom production on a small scale in 2022 by watching on YouTube and learning how to grow oyster mushrooms. Without proper training and scientific interventions, he could not yield the products successfully since the problem with molds and insect infestation would destroy the mushroom bags, and some of the mushrooms would rot before he could reap the yield resulting in abandoning the cultivation for almost a year.
The scientist of MTTC & VTC, College of Community Science, Tura had organised a one-day training on Oyster mushroom cultivation under the NEH component of ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (NIBSM), Raipur in February 2024 which was attended by 49 Schedule Caste participants (29 male and 20 female) from Horin Kota village and Horin Kota Bakra village of Resubelpara block, North Garo Hills district. The farmers were imparted hands-on demonstrations on how to grow oyster mushrooms by using paddy straw as substrate on polythene bags.
After attending the training and acquiring some basic skills, Rajdip began to restart mushroom production with the interventions suggested and input support from the scientists of MTTC & VTC, CCS, Tura during the training. The training program helped him understand how to identify edible and non-edible mushrooms, scientific cultivation of oyster mushrooms, management of diseases and pests in mushrooms, etc.
He is now a progressive farmer and a role model for other farmers and farm women in the community and other villages. Other farmers of the village have been inspired by his success and started their mushroom cultivation and production.
After training and scientific interventions from MTTC &VTC, Rajdip is now preparing at least 100 bags per cycle from which 3 kg of harvest is yielded from one bag each, producing 300 kg of mushrooms per cycle. The fresh mushroom is sold locally at the local market at the rate of Rs. 200 per kg while Rs. 160 per kg is the wholesale price to the cooperative society. By selling fresh mushrooms, he is getting an income of Rs 40,000–50,000 per cycle.
As people are increasingly becoming aware of the several nutritional and health benefits of mushrooms, the demand for fresh mushrooms in the market is growing. However, the production of processed and value-added products of mushrooms like mushroom noodles, mushroom pickles, dry mushroom powder, mushroom cookies, etc has to be encouraged which will help in increasing mushroom production and help in income generation and providing self-employment and empowering the people of Meghalaya .
(The writer is the Assistant Professor (Plant Protection), Multi Technology Testing Centre and Vocational Training Centre, College of Community Science, Tura under Central Agricultural University – Imphal)
