Anjana Gamit, a civil engineer from Tapi district of Gujarat state earns Rs 2,00,000 by growing Organic Oyster Mushrooms in her Parking Shed. She had begun oyster mushroom cultivation three years ago & her profits have increased by 40% since then. Here’s are details…
She is very interested & curious about farming. So, she opted for oyster mushroom cultivation as they require less space, time, water & investment and they will give a high yield. Then, she has undergone a 4-day training on mushroom cultivation called “Entrepreneurship Development through Mushroom Cultivation” at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). In return she received raw materials like spawn (mushroom seed) & polythene bags. The experts at KVK helped her to set up & provided her technical guidance in the initial days.
At present, she has three years of experience in mushroom cultivation & last year she made a profit of more than Rs.2,00,000 & created her market of potential buyers. For marketing & educating the people regarding benefits & myths of mushroom, Anjana has tied up with Anganawadi workers & local retail shopkeepers. It took some time to educate the vendors & customers but now she is planning to make value-added products from mushrooms like chips, pickles, powder, etc. so to make the marketing easier.
Sachin Chavan (Plant Protection Scientist) said that, “KVK has always promoted the concept of organic farming among farmers & regular citizens who wish to grow at a small scale. Through our workshops, we assure people that farming is not rocket science. It requires some expertise & maintenance but that can be acquired with the right guidance. The key reasons for Anjana’s success are her interest & curiosity towards farming. We hope more women like her come forward & learn basic cultivation if not for selling the produce at least for self-sufficiency”.
Anjana began her cultivation in a 10×10-foot area of her parking shed & enclosed it with green shade net & bamboo i.e. Hassle-Free method of cultivation. She harvested around 140 kilos & fetched Rs.30,000 within two months.
Procedure:
Soak the straw in water for five hours to soften it & remove the dirt.
Sterilize the straw in a steamer at a temperature of about a 100℃ (Alternatively, you can get this temperature in your geyser)
Keep the straw for cooling in the water at the normal temperature & cover it with a blanket or thermocol
Dry the straw overnight
Mix the straw with seeds & keep them in an air-tight polythene bag & leave it for 18 days
Once the mushrooms start sprouting tear the bag & carefully remove each mushroom from its roots
The entire process takes around 25 days. Ten kilos of spawn can give up to 45 kilos of mushrooms. While the process might seem easy, it is no mean feat as one has to be careful about the temperature, humidity, contamination & quality of seeds.
Anjana had lost her 80% of mushroom produce for the first couple of tries. To overcome the contamination problems, she uses neem oil & to prevent humidity from spoiling the spawns she uses an extra layer of coverage on the green shade net. She moistens the curtains & hangs over on all four sides of the shed. She has expanded her cultivation & gradually converted her entire parking shed (25×45ft) for cultivation with her experience & currently, she has 350 cultivation bags of mushroom.
Anjana said that “For beginners who wish to start mushroom farming at home, a minimum area of 10×10 ft & investment of Rs.400 is required. One can acquire materials from a nursery or horticulture center.”
Start with a kilo of mushrooms for which you will need half a kilo straw (wheat or paddy) and 50 grams of mushroom seeds. The daily water requirement will be around five liters. For those who are not sure about temperature purchase a thermometer. Finally get plastic bags & a bucket.
