Mushroom production: A way forward in promoting women entrepreneurship

Empowerment of women is recognized globally as a key element to achieve progress in all areas since it is multi-dimensional, multi-faceted and multi-layered concept. Suitable enterprises of women will not only enable them to get better in becoming independent and economically self-reliant but society will also benefit from them. Presently, mushroom cultivation is a profitable business since per unit productivity and cost of mushroom, both are higher than any other crop.
The mushroom-based enterprises will solve the malnutrition problem and will also pave the way towards self-employment opportunities for about 66 per cent of the total female population living in the rural sector, which is unutilised and idle. In this context, Girl Power Project funded by the European Union and implemented by the All India Institute of Local Self-Government in Jharkhand organised a one day exposure visit on mushroom production and value addition for women beneficiaries of Churchublock of Hazaribagh District in Jharkhand to give an idea of the best practices that are being adopted by entrepreneurs as well as institutions.
Around 35 women beneficiaries who were given three-day training on mushroom cultivation practices in October 2021, under Girl Power Project participated in the exposure visit on December 4, 2021, at different places in Ranchi.
The objective of the exposure visit was to scale up mushroom cultivation among women farmers, focus on production and value addition of mushrooms and to build the skill base of potential farmers.
The first place visited by the entrepreneurs was Parinaama Development Foundation in Palandu, Ranchi that is working with 2000 women on creation of different entrepreneurial activities in three different states namely Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. The foundation primarily works on capacity building and handholding of rural women. Till now, they have engaged women in mushroom cultivation, computer training, stitching and
tailoring activities.
The exposure visit started with meeting women entrepreneurs who shared their experience and explained how they started mushroom farming with a low investment and today they are reaping its benefits. The primary occupation of the women entrepreneurs was agriculture and they shared how they manage time in these activities. For marketing of mushroom, the women entrepreneurs sold the freshly grown mushrooms in their nearby locality and also in Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) centre to sell them in bulk. They also shared that mushroom is such a crop that if planned properly nothing gets wasted. If the mushrooms are left unsold then they can be used for value addition like making pickle or powderfor medicinal purpose. One of the field coordinators at Parinaama mentioned that their next step is creating awareness on the nutritional value of mushroom and as a first step towards it, they have published a book on the nutritive value and different recipes of mushroom.
The women also visited a low cost shed created by a Self Help Group (SHG) with an approximate area of 1500 square feet made up of bamboo. The shed is maintained by the members of the group. They shared how they have divided the roles and responsibilities of maintaining the shed and what is the scope of collective production and marketing. Collective marketing has given them a platform to maintain the quality, bargain the cost, and meet the demands of bulk orders.
During the visit, a mushroom trainer shared that spawn is the key input in mushroom cultivation and non-availability of quality spawn is the major constraint in the state.
After getting trained under Girl Power Project, a few women beneficiaries have started the production of mushroom and are also utilising it for self-consumption purpose. In the next step, the project team will support women entrepreneurs in marketing their produce.