Mushroom production trebles in 12 years

Mushroom production in the country has increased almost three times in the last 12 years thanks to technological innovation and reductions in production costs, according to the agriculture ministry documents. 

The country produced 14,500 tonnes of mushrooms in fiscal year 2010-11 which rose to 41,000 tonnes in fiscal year 2021-22, which is worth about Tk 800 crore, it said.

Recently, the country's scientists have developed low-cost machinery and simple technology suitable for mushroom cultivation, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque ‍said at a workshop.

"But these devices and technologies are yet to become familiar to the public. So, we have to utilise those innovations to get the maximum benefit," he said.

The workshop, styled "Improve Nutrition and Reduce Poverty through Mushroom Cultivation", was organised by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.

"Mushroom is a promising crop which is very nutritious with about 22 per cent protein whereas rice contains 8 per cent protein and wheat has about 12 per cent protein," ‍said Razzaque.

"If the different ways in which mushroom can be consumed can be widely publicised among people, the number of consumers will increase and its market will also expand," he said.

"If we can do so, it can play a big role in Bangladesh's economy," the minister said, adding that there was an opportunity to export mushrooms from Bangladesh to many countries.

Akter Jahan Kakon, director of a project on improving nutrition and reducing poverty through mushroom cultivation, informed that the DAE undertook the Tk 96 crore project to expand mushroom cultivation and popularise it as a food between 2023 and 2027.

Nipu Tripura, a mushroom farmer of Khagrachhari district, said she sold mushrooms and "substrates" worth Tk 24 lakh in 2022 to earn a profit of about Tk 9 lakh.

Mushrooms originate from tiny spores, like seeds, that germinate to produce new mycelium. Because these spores are far too small to handle, mycelium is produced by specialist growers and impregnated into "substrates" like wood plugs, sterile cattle manure and straw. These substrates are called "spawn".

In the context of Bangladesh, mushroom is a very promising crop, she said.