Mushroom farming: A better alternative to going abroad

By Our Correspondent,Dadeldhura, Mar. 16: A local of Ganyapadhura of Dadaldhura has produced shiitake mushroom for the first time in the district.

The 40-year-old Antaram Joshi of Ganyapadhura Rural Municipality-1, who spent time in India and Malaysia in search of employment, has produced shiitake mushroom.

Joshi, who reached Kathmandu with the dream of going to the European country of Poland at the encouragement of his friends, started producing shiitake mushroom without going abroad. 

During the visa process for Poland, he worked in various agricultural firms in Kathmandu to maintain his basic expenses, and the shiitake mushroom production skills he learned there have made him self-reliant when he returned home.

Initially, he worked part-time at a mushroom farm for the first six months while processing his visa and Joshi, along with his friends, started taking contracts for building mushroom houses and preparing straw bales for various agricultural firms. 

Later, he said, he got an opportunity to learn about mushroom farming.

While working at the mushroom farm, a young man who had returned from Japan and was growing mushrooms in Kathmandu told him that he could do good work in his own country with half the investment he would have to make to travel to a European country, and his thinking changed and so returned home, said Joshi

He said that his mushroom farming had started after the Ganyapadhura Rural Municipality provided mushroom seeds at a 50 per cent subsidy as part of a programme to support young people affected by the coronavirus pandemic who had returned from abroad.

According to him, support of the Agricultural Knowledge Centre gradually helped to expand his mushroom farming.

He said that he started producing shiitake mushrooms in the district seeing the possible market of this variety of mushroom rather than other mushrooms.

He started the cultivation of shiitake mushrooms with 50 bales in 2079 BS. After shiitake mushrooms were well sold in the market, he has now expanded and is producing mushrooms in more than 700 bales. 

He said that he plans to produce mushrooms in more than 2,000 bales with the aim of making a model farm in the Sudurpashchim Province for shiitake mushroom production.

According to him, he is currently saving around Rs. 50,000 to Rs, 60,000 per month by deducting all expenses from shiitake mushrooms. 

He said that with the support of the Agricultural Knowledge Centre, he had also exhibited the shiitake mushrooms at the first provincial level agriculture and livestock fair in Dhangadhi and the Dadeldhura just a few days ago.

Narendra Raj Paneru, chief of the Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Dadeldhura, said that they have been providing support as there is potential for mushroom cultivation here in terms of production and market.