Spawning success through mushroom farming in Tripura

Suman Bhattacharjee, who is a bank manager by profession, all of a sudden thought of getting self-employed by producing mushrooms.

He initially took up training at the state government mushroom centre but was not satisfied, he then watched tutorials on YouTube and was so inspired that he immediately decided to quit his job and start his mushroom production centre, which in fact is totally a new concept in his village.

By 2015, he started his own mushroom production centre at Anandanagar with two temporary sheds and along with few local housewives, who were trained by him in the trade.

Currently, Suman has become a successful entrepreneur engaged in mushroom cultivation, which is now paying him huge dividends.

 

On an average, the daily production of oyster mushroom from his centre is around 25 kg, which are sold between Rs. 170 to Rs. 180 a kilogram.

Suman's monthly income is more than Rs. 35,000 from this small infrastructure, he is planning to increase his infrastructure, which will add to his profit by several folds.

Biplab Choudhury, who collects mushroom from Suman, said, "At present the market is growing and far better than it was five years back. There are around five to six farmers in and around Agartala and Suman's farm is one of the big farms. If the government takes an initiative to aware people through TV and newspaper about the benefit of mushroom which is a good source of protein and helps in curing several diseases then I believe the demand will further grow."

Mushroom cultivation is boosting the income of an educated youth in Tripura and is encouraging more.

Regularly, there are visitors to his mushroom cultivation centre to share his experience.

After his success as a cultivator, Suman is now planning to open his spawn centre in the near future so that other farmers can also start to cultivate mushrooms and earn a livelihood through diversification of traditional farming.