Mushrooms-smart solution for empowering of rural women through enterprise

partially funded

Mushrooms are popular for their nutritional benefits. In India, we have 04 popular varieties-button, milky white, oyster and shiitake which are commercially promoted. Nearly 90 percentage is encroached by button variety alone. Button mushroom technology was largely adapted from Europe & Hence the conditions to grow this mushroom also needs temperate conditions which are cost intensive, and the product has low shelf-life and chemically treated compared to local varieties. At present, the total mushroom production in India is approximately 0.13 million tons growing at 4.3percentage per annum. Compared to other vegetables, per capita consumption of mushrooms in India is meagre and it is less than 100 grams per year. This is one crop that can have a great impact in uplifting the economic conditions of rural farmers, and an easy way to double the farmers income through alternative farming. The local varieties such as -milky white [Calocybe indica] and Oyster [Pleurotus spp.] have several advantages in growing them such as availability of large quantity of agro-waste for substratum, ambient temperature ensures no intensive capital requirement- indoor cultivation helps escape from climatic vagaries- chemical-free method ensures quality food to customer- highly valued product [Rs. 150-300orkg] fetches more income- 6-9 harvest per year based on the variety compared to 3 crops from vegetables- preparation of seeds very easy and extended shelf-life- raw material for several food industries such as mayonnaise, sauce, jams, pickles, soups and others. This creates enterprises for rural youth in mushroom business value chain as sustainable alternative livelihood.