Even as the production of foodgrains has decreased since the post-reforms period from the 1990s, mushroom cultivation has jumped nearly 20 times during this phase. | |
| The country's total output of cultivated mushrooms is reckoned to have spurted to over 100,000 tonnes last year from a mere 5000 tonnes in 1990. |
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| Significantly, this output can potentially be pushed up further by 10 times to one million tonnes in the near future and to whopping 3 million tonnes in the long run. This has been revealed in a report submitted to the Planning Commission by the sub-group on adoption and generation of relevant technologies in agriculture and their dissemination to the farmers. |
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| The group was headed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director-General Mangala Rai and had agricultural experts as its members. The report points out that the ICAR has perfected technologies for various types of mushrooms, including button, oyster, milky, paddy straw and Reishi (the most popular medicinal mushroom in the world). Besides, techniques have also been perfected for growing some specialty mushrooms like Shiitake, Wood ear and medicinal mushrooms for the pharmaceutical industry. |
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| Shiitake mushroom is a valuable edible mushroom native to east Asia. Though it is generally referred to by its Japanese name Shiitake but it is also known in English speaking areas by other names like Chinese black mushroom and black forest mushroom. The wood ear mushroom, also called black fungus or tree ear mushroom, also has several medicinal values, besides being a culinary delight. |
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| The demand side factors are highly favourable for further growth of mushroom output. "Abundant availability of agro-wastes, diversified agro-climate and cheap manpower provides large potential for mushroom production in India. It offers an opportunity for employment and income to a large number of rural and urban households," the report states. |
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| According to ICAR sources, mushroom cultivation does not require land and can be carried out indoors, using agro-wastes like wheat and paddy straw, cotton sticks, sugarcane bagasse and other kinds of bio-mass. |
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| Annually, around 600 million tonnes of agricultural wastes are generated in the country. If even 1 per cent of this bio-mass is utilised as substrate (soil material) for growing mushrooms, a production level of 3 million tonnes can easily be achieved. |
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| In the process, this will also generate about 15 million tonnes of spent mushroom substrate which is deemed highly useful organic manure for flowers, vegetables, fruits and ornamental plants and shrubs. |
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| The sub-group has identified several states which possess good potential for mushroom cultivation on small as well as industrial scale. These include Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. |
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| At present, button mushrooms are being produced commercially using wheat and paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse as the base substrate. Of the 35 available species of oyster mushroom, only about a couple "" Pleurotus sajor caju and Pleurotus florida - are popular for commercial production. |
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| However, cultivation of milky mushroom is also picking up in different parts of the country, especially in southern states. Paddy straw mushroom, another tropical mushroom, is mainly being grown in coastal states, notably Orissa. |
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| "The availability of quality mushroom spawn (seed) is currently the major production constraint," the sub-group has pointed out. The country will need at least 60 mushroom spawn production laboratories to produce about 200 tonnes of spawn annually to push up mushroom output to 3 lakh tonnes a year to begin with. |
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| The sub-group has also recommended establishment of cool-chain and other post-harvest mushroom handling and processing infrastructure in the public, private and cooperative sectors. Besides, it has suggested creation of infrastructure for training of farmers and other entrepreneurs in commercial mushroom cultivation. State agricultural universities can be involved in this task. |
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