“Quick production, high demand and good profits attracted me towards mushroom farming in 2004,” describes Mr. Sushanta Naik as the drive to add mushroom farming to his paddy and rice cultivation venture. He hails from Kandabahal village, Odisha. “Mushroom is sold at good rate but it can further give higher returns if cost of production is reduced. I thought about it and was able to do it.” He grows oyster and paddy straw mushrooms.
Mr. Naik asserts, “Theory of mushroom cultivation procedure is not in alliance with practical! Usually the process mentioned in books/guides suits coastal belts. It is certainly not applicable in all weather conditions for example in my region temperature is high and humidity is low therefore it is critical to control both unlike in coastal belts or at colder places like Himachal. It is imperative to make the variations in the procedure.”
Humidity and temperature are two main important factors in mushroom farming, “If these two are understood and controlled then mushroom farming is boon,” he says. “Observing atmospheric conditions in my region and mushroom requisites I developed a mushroom unit with humidity and temperature control facility.” Fogger is used for spraying the water in the room to keep it cool. In addition to bring down the temperature in the room and beds, he laid 6 inch layer of sand in the mushroom growing space. The sand is sprayed with water to hold back the dampness. “Sand remains moist for a longer time that helped a lot to lower the temperature,” he adds. Next step was to work on the beds.
Commonly mushroom is grown on 1.5 * 1.5 feet bed yielding 10 kgs. “I changed it! I started preparing small paddy straw mushroom beds of 16*14 inch size using 3-kg straw above the sand, and did not use polythene sheets to cover the beds, unlike in traditional beds that require 10-15 kg straw. Change in bed size also controlled the temperature,” he explains. Less straw and no polythene brought down the cost. After doing many permutation and combination in the bed size for couple of years Mr. Naik was able to standardize the bed size to 16*14 inch.
Subsequently another change made was, “Traditionally for making mushroom beds 250 gm gram flour powder is used. The cost incurred is Rs 7.50/bed. I made a mixture of wheat bran (choker) + bengal gram bran (chanachuni) in the ratio 60:40. I used 150 gm of this mixture for making the beds,” he elucidates. The cost was reduced to Rs 2.50/bed. Bran used in the mixture not only trims down the cost but is nutrition rich too. “Also with this mixture time taken for mushroom production reduced by 3-5 days,” he adds.
Altogether production cost was cut down by Rs. 25-28/bed and yield was increased too. “Traditionally
1.5 kg mushroom is produced using 15-20 kg paddy straw whereas after making the changes in my method the yield obtained was 400-500 grams mushroom using only 3 kg straw,” he claims. The straw-use efficiency was around 15% in innovative method as against less than 10% in traditional method.
Mushroom spawns are produced in-house. “Earlier I was making spawns in bottle. After taking training in Solan, Himachal Pradesh now I make spawns in polythene bag. It also lessens the cost of production,” he adds. It takes 20 days to grow the spawn.
Oyster mushroom is grown in winters (November – February) where as paddy straw during summers and rainy season (March-October). In the present facility (750 square feet) of Mr. Naik, one crop cycle in oyster mushroom takes 20-25 days to yield 40 kgs approximately. It is sold at Rs. 80-100/kg. Paddy straw one cycle gives production of 15 kgs in 12-15 days in same facility and is sold at Rs. 180/kg. “I never sell my mushroom to any trader because they manipulate the prices extensively. Further selling is not a problem as demand of mushroom is very high. I sell entire mushroom produce to end users,” he shares.
Mr. Naik is more than satisfied with his decision to add on mushroom farming to his agricultural activities. “It is now a complete cycle for me! I get straw to prepare mushroom beds from my paddy farms, and then once the mushrooms are harvested the used beds are converted into organic manure using African earthworms, vermicompost technology. Waste of one activity is gain for another. I also sell the excess manure to other farmers, add on income for me!” he avows.
Expansion is the only future plan of Mr. Naik, “I am working on establishing a new farm. Right now all my agricultural activities are located at different places so it is time consuming to travel. At new farm I shall also be having net house to grow vegetables. I attend training workshops across the country to keep myself updated on new technologies and adding more ventures to my present business. I foresee myself as one stop for all core food items!” he concludes.
Mr. Naik asserts, “Theory of mushroom cultivation procedure is not in alliance with practical! Usually the process mentioned in books/guides suits coastal belts. It is certainly not applicable in all weather conditions for example in my region temperature is high and humidity is low therefore it is critical to control both unlike in coastal belts or at colder places like Himachal. It is imperative to make the variations in the procedure.”
Humidity and temperature are two main important factors in mushroom farming, “If these two are understood and controlled then mushroom farming is boon,” he says. “Observing atmospheric conditions in my region and mushroom requisites I developed a mushroom unit with humidity and temperature control facility.” Fogger is used for spraying the water in the room to keep it cool. In addition to bring down the temperature in the room and beds, he laid 6 inch layer of sand in the mushroom growing space. The sand is sprayed with water to hold back the dampness. “Sand remains moist for a longer time that helped a lot to lower the temperature,” he adds. Next step was to work on the beds.
Commonly mushroom is grown on 1.5 * 1.5 feet bed yielding 10 kgs. “I changed it! I started preparing small paddy straw mushroom beds of 16*14 inch size using 3-kg straw above the sand, and did not use polythene sheets to cover the beds, unlike in traditional beds that require 10-15 kg straw. Change in bed size also controlled the temperature,” he explains. Less straw and no polythene brought down the cost. After doing many permutation and combination in the bed size for couple of years Mr. Naik was able to standardize the bed size to 16*14 inch.
Subsequently another change made was, “Traditionally for making mushroom beds 250 gm gram flour powder is used. The cost incurred is Rs 7.50/bed. I made a mixture of wheat bran (choker) + bengal gram bran (chanachuni) in the ratio 60:40. I used 150 gm of this mixture for making the beds,” he elucidates. The cost was reduced to Rs 2.50/bed. Bran used in the mixture not only trims down the cost but is nutrition rich too. “Also with this mixture time taken for mushroom production reduced by 3-5 days,” he adds.
Altogether production cost was cut down by Rs. 25-28/bed and yield was increased too. “Traditionally
1.5 kg mushroom is produced using 15-20 kg paddy straw whereas after making the changes in my method the yield obtained was 400-500 grams mushroom using only 3 kg straw,” he claims. The straw-use efficiency was around 15% in innovative method as against less than 10% in traditional method.
Mushroom spawns are produced in-house. “Earlier I was making spawns in bottle. After taking training in Solan, Himachal Pradesh now I make spawns in polythene bag. It also lessens the cost of production,” he adds. It takes 20 days to grow the spawn.
Oyster mushroom is grown in winters (November – February) where as paddy straw during summers and rainy season (March-October). In the present facility (750 square feet) of Mr. Naik, one crop cycle in oyster mushroom takes 20-25 days to yield 40 kgs approximately. It is sold at Rs. 80-100/kg. Paddy straw one cycle gives production of 15 kgs in 12-15 days in same facility and is sold at Rs. 180/kg. “I never sell my mushroom to any trader because they manipulate the prices extensively. Further selling is not a problem as demand of mushroom is very high. I sell entire mushroom produce to end users,” he shares.
Mr. Naik is more than satisfied with his decision to add on mushroom farming to his agricultural activities. “It is now a complete cycle for me! I get straw to prepare mushroom beds from my paddy farms, and then once the mushrooms are harvested the used beds are converted into organic manure using African earthworms, vermicompost technology. Waste of one activity is gain for another. I also sell the excess manure to other farmers, add on income for me!” he avows.
Expansion is the only future plan of Mr. Naik, “I am working on establishing a new farm. Right now all my agricultural activities are located at different places so it is time consuming to travel. At new farm I shall also be having net house to grow vegetables. I attend training workshops across the country to keep myself updated on new technologies and adding more ventures to my present business. I foresee myself as one stop for all core food items!” he concludes.