View of MUSHROOM CULTIVATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN 21st CENTURY

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Vol. 07, Issue 12, December 2022(Category- Botany) IMPACT FACTOR: 8.20 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 32 MUSHROOM CULTIVATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN 21^st CENTURY

Ruchi Kumari

University, Deptt. of Botany, L.N Mithila University, Darbhanga

Abstract - Mushroom cultivation as a subsidiary occupation provides ample opportunities for sustaining rural livelihood. One of the benefit of mushroom cultivation in their potential contribution to a more sustainable and enviournment friendly way of farming. Mushroom cultivation using an agricultural waste as a growing medium and the subsequent use of spent substrate has high value for horticulture activity, organic fertilizer and utilization for animal feeding. Mushrooms are popular valuable foods because they are low in calories.

carbohydrates and fat also. Mushroom farmers are facing as series of problems. Constraints in Mushroom production is highly perishable, lack of marketing facility, Infected spawn, Non possession of technical knowledge, Low risk bearing capacity, lack of technical guidance, lack of flow of information’s non availability of spawn in time, Non-availability of quality straw etc. In this paper challenges and opportunities of Mushroom cultivation in discussed.

Keywords: Mushroom, Cultivation, Problems, Agricultural residues, Nutrients.

1. INTRODUCTION

Mushrooms are being grown on a commercial scale in many parts of the world. In India, commercial mushroom farming started recently, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Andhra Pradesh is a major mushroom producing state. Sonipat, Panipat and Gurgaon are the three districts in Haryana that produce major mushrooms.

In Haryana mainly two spices (White button and Oyster mushroom) are cultivated which are grown at commercial level. Mushroom farming is such a component of the farming system that not only imparts diversification but also helps in addressing the problems of quality food, health and environment related issues. Mushrooms are one of the most diverse organisms on earth and since primitive times have played a vital role in human welfare. Its major role is in the conservation of natural resources as well as increasing the recycling of agro-wastes including agro industrial waste.

Mushroom cultivation is a highly profitable and sustainable enterprise for small and marginal agricultural laborers.

Farmers who are not getting good returns from agriculture are also keen to adopt other agriculture related activities to enhance their income and mushroom cultivation is one of them, which provides extra income to the farmers other than field crops in two to three months duration. Since mushroom cultivation does not require big land and can be grown in the houses, small huts, people

having limited or no land are also showing interest in starting mushroom cultivation as an venture of income generation.

Mushroom cultivation is the most economical way of upgrading lingo cellulolytic waste and hence, is the way to increase the income of the farmers other than field crops, which ultimately increase the human resource directly or indirectly. Moreover, the diversity in soil and climatic conditions in India allows the production of a variety of mushrooms in different parts of the country. This provides vast potential for the cultivation of mushrooms due to ample availability of raw materials and conducive climatic conditions.

Mushroom cultivation can help reduce vulnerability to poverty and strengthen livelihoods through the generation of a fast yielding and nutritious source of food and a reliable source of income. The fresh mushroom contains about 85-90% moisture, 3%

protein, 4% carbohydrates, 3-4 % fats and 1% minerals and vitamins as well as some medicinal properties like lowering blood cholesterol levels, defense against cancer and invigorating hair growth. In recent years, mushrooms have also been seen as one of the most interesting subjects of the search for natural antimicrobial agents reports that mushrooms provide many of the nutritional attributes of produce, as well as attributes more commonly found in meat, beans or grains. On a fresh weight basis, mushrooms are superior in protein content to all vegetables and

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 07, Issue 12, December 2022(Category- Botany) IMPACT FACTOR: 8.20 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 33 fruits, but are inferior to meat and dairy

products, which are the conventional protein sources. On a dry-weight basis, however, mushrooms are similar with respect to dried yeast and superior to dried peas and beans.

Mushrooms act as anti-cancer compounds play crucial role as reactive oxygen species inducer, mitotic kinase inhibitor, antimitotic, angiogenesis inhibitor, topoisomerase inhibitor, leading to apoptosis, and eventually checking cancer proliferation. Most mushroom derived preparation and substances find their use not as pharmaceutical but as a novel class of dietary supplements (DS) or

"nutraceutical". A mushroom nutraceuticals is a refined or partially refined extract or dried biomass from either the mycelium or the fruiting body of the mushroom, which is consumed in the form of capsule or tablets as a dietary supplement and which may enhance the immune response of human body, thereby increasing resistance to disease and in some cases causing regression of a disease state. Many pharmaceutical substances with potent and unique properties were isolated from mushrooms and distributed worldwide. Extensive clinical studies have explicitly illustrated that a number of mushroom species have medicinal and therapeutic value in the prevention/treatment of cancer, viral disease, hypercholesterolemia, blood platelet aggregation, and hypertension etc.

There are some problems during cultivation and marketing, which are essential to be addressed and as such steps could be taken to boost production of this crop However, very little information is known about the status of mushroom production potential benefits, challenges and opportunities. Therefore, this study so far reviews the available information on mushrooms.

2 CHALLENGES OF MUSHROOM PRODUCTION IN INDIA

Mushroom cultivation has proven to be one of the most remunerative enterprises but its adoption among the farmers has not found up to the mark due to certain constraints. Researcher revealed that non-availability of raw materials particularly spawn and compost, complicated loan procedure, lack of

government initiative, lack of awareness about nutritive value, lack of adequate technical guidance, irregular fluctuating production, perishable nature, lack of knowledge about improved cultivation technology, lack of transport to the nearest town, lengthy and cumbersome method of compost preparation, limited post-harvest processing options and lack of regulated market were some of the main constraints in adoption of mushroom as an enterprise. The most important hurdle in mushroom production is that it is highly perishable, which needs quick disposal.

In India, there are very big future for production of mushroom from profusely available of recyclable agro- wastage like cereals straws, vast domestic market, low labour cost, favorable climatic condition, strong technical base and government support. In our country most of the farmer are marginal and small, who are showing interest in adopting Mushroom cultivation, due to high profitability the unemployed youths and farmers are attracted towards mushroom cultivation because there is no space or very less space requirement for mushroom cultivation. Small and marginal farmer can grow even at home and with the family member in a judicious manner. It is also a good food supplement as they contain minerals and vitamins and contains both a nutritional and medicinal importance. It is important and beneficial component for increasing food production of the country, and can provides further income to the growers other than their traditional agricultural output.

But, in spite of all these benefit, there are many problems, faced by the mushroom growers in its cultivation:

1. Insufficiency of cold storage.

2. Non-availability of equipment used for growing mushrooms.

3. Lack of finance

4. Dearth of transportation facilities.

5. Inadequate know how about mushroom production technology.

6. Shortage of spawn.

3 CHALLENGES RELATED TO MUSHROOM PRODUCTION

These are some limitations in mushroom production in India as follows:

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 07, Issue 12, December 2022(Category- Botany) IMPACT FACTOR: 8.20 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 34

 Non-availability of quality spawn and no proper electricity in summer. Lack of government spawn laboratories and presence of unqualified spawn producers in the nearby areas is a major problem.

Apart from these, non-availability of spawn in productive time coupled with high wage rate of labour, adds to the problem.

 Storage Problems - Unavailability of cold storage facilities and drying equipment is other most important problem which is given by the farmer. It leads to detrimental effect of climatic conditions and coupled with lack of separate storage place for mushroom.

 Financial Problems - Unavailability of finance is also a big problem for proper running of mushroom cultivation, especially in the case of when farmer want to grow at commercial level. Inadequate facilities of funds by institutional sources such as banks and other organized sector.

 Inadequate knowledge and awareness about mushroom production technology- Inadequate 3438 knowledge about mushroom cultivation technique, Lack of long duration training program and farmer's has no proper knowledge of spawn production and inadequate knowledge of current market situation, especially those who are away from the city.

The population of India is growing day to day but the land is not increasing i.e. constant so it is very challenging to provide nutritious food to all the people.

In this way cultivation of mushroom can be a big option for the farmers in the way of food security and in the way of improving their standard of living, because cultivation of mushroom is not only highly profitable also require very less area for cultivation. But in present time mainly in north India where temperature becomes high at most of the time so there are also some difficulties in the production of mushroom cultivation.

So here are some areas where research should be needed i.e. production of quality spawn, method of mushroom production mainly in warm region and providing farmers cost effectively

technique for the long time storage process, technique for manufacture processed product through mushroom so that farmer can earn more money and cultivation of mushroom is also not very popular like traditional crop such as wheat, rice, maize etc. among farmers so there is need for work on how it can be popularized.

4 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT OF MUSHROOM FARMERS

 For establishment of modern commercial production units of mushroom and its product, many agencies like National Horticulture Board (NHB) provide subsidy leading to alternative agriculture technique resulting in high value yielding crops.

 Ministry of food processing industries - MOFP1 also provide credit in the areas of agriculture, horticulture and food processing for the technology upgradation and establishment & modernization of food processing industries.

 Small Farmer's Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) - SFAC is a registered society, works under Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India. It is operating scheme for Agribusiness Development through venture capital assistance and project development facility, though which government to promote investments in Agri-business projects with the nationalized banks.

 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

a. Through "Area Development Scheme on Mushroom."

b. Through watershed development projects NABARD are promoting

mushroom cultivation.

 NABARD also provide support to the farmer through different scheme such as model Bankable schemes for different practice of Mushroom cultivation viz., Compost making, Spawn production and Mushroom production.

 Directorate of Mushroom Research

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 07, Issue 12, December 2022(Category- Botany) IMPACT FACTOR: 8.20 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 35 DMR is a institution of Indian

Council of Agricultural Research which is situated at Solan. The scientist of this institution provide support to the farmer through different activity viz. training, Consultancy services, Extension services like organization of Mushroom Mela, exhibitions. DMR also provides culture, spawn of improved strains to the farmers.

 KVK also provides support and technical assistance to the farmer.

5 CONCLUSION

It is concluded that the cultivation of Mushroom is a beneficial approach to Improve the condition of Indian farmers through its huge to improve food security and income generation especially for the farmess who has low income and small land holding. It is also helpful to provide healthy food in the plant of villages, vegetarian and other people of the country. In India, the cultivation of mushroom and their marketing is not in tradition cike other cereal and vegetable crops such as maize, wheat, rice, potato etc. On the basis of above study we found that there is no problem of market for mushroom and cost of production is very less with respect to selling price. But advertisement and government support, like-technical support, financial support, storage facilities and knowledge of market is needed to popularize of the cultivation of mushroom between farmers.

Mushroom cultivation helps to establish a new business in less space and less cost for better income.

and in improving the farmers livecihood.

Despite many benefits there are some constraints in mushroom production that are followed by input constraints, technological constraints, general constraints, socio-cultural constraints and crop management constraints. Management from 'waste-to- wealth' is essential for more sustainable farming globally, and increasing mushroom production in India seems a viable and attractive option. Boosting the commercial value of products whether in a fresh or processed form could increase concentration of demand and encourage market orientation.

REFERENCE

1. Agric. Sci. Digest, 28 (2): 118 - 120, 2008.

2. Annual report 2004-2005, All India Co- ordinated Mushroom Improvement Project, National Research Centre for Mushroom, Asian Journal of Home Science (June, 2008) 3 (1): 86-89.

3. Beetz and Greer, 1999, Mushroom cultivation and marketing Horticulture Production Guide, Appropriate technology transfer for Rural areas. Fay etteville.

4. Hobbs et.al, 1995, Medicinal Mushrooms: an exploration of traditional healing and culture, 3rd Ed., Botanical Press. Asian Journal of Home Science (June, 2008) Vol. 3 (1): 86-89.

5. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), RGSC, BHU, Mirzapur.

6. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Varanasi.

7. Mushroom growers of Varanasi district.

8. www.nhb.org.in & www.nrcmushroom.org