Bright prospect of mushroom farming

Today, I talk about mushrooms, one of the most valuable agricultural products that has great demand in the global market. It is known to all that button mushroom is the most popular mushroom variety among other varieties. Cultivation of button mushroom started in the 16th century. However, on a commercial scale, the cultivation was initiated in Europe around the 17th century.

Mushroom farming can be a profitable business with low capital investment. It is an art which requires both study and experience. I went to Saidpur upazila of Nilphamari district to visit a mushroom farm in Technical College area. You probably have watched on TV that I have been showcasing mushroom for many years, highlighting its features as a crop, its medicinal properties and varieties -- oyster, button etc -- and how it can be cultivated. For some reason, mushroom is not getting popular in Bangladesh. It might be because of social mindset or misconception. However, it has great use and market worldwide. There is a huge market of mushrooms in countries like China, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore etc.

India has been producing mushroom, mainly for domestic market, for more than four decades. In India, its production earlier was limited to the winter season, but with technology development, mushrooms are produced almost throughout the year in small, medium, and large farms, adopting different levels of technology.

People are gradually becoming aware of mushrooms in our country. One of the biggest sheds of mushroom in Saidpur is Fatema Mushroom, where I went a few days back. Azizul Haque has been cultivating mushrooms here for a long time now. He has many achievements under his belt. Already, he has received many awards. He has also achieved Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award for cultivating mushrooms. Moreover, he is probably the only person in Bangladesh who cultivates gano mushrooms on a large scale.

An individual who wants to start his own mushroom farming business must have undergone technical training on mushroom farming to gain expertise. “I could make this successful because I had clear strategy, target market and proper training,” says Azizul Haque. Environment plays the most important role in mushroom farming business because different varieties require different kinds of environment.

Mushroom is being cultivated for three decades in Bangladesh. Entrepreneurs do understand its possibilities and value. However, demand for it is not increasing among buyers and consumers, thus there are many examples of failures and some success stories. In this regard, Azizul Haque has shown a great example of success by making a huge platform for producing mushrooms. His courage is astounding. He has 45 thousand mushroom spawns in three sheds. Without a doubt, Azizul Haque is one of Bangladesh's pioneer mushroom growers.

“What variety of mushroom are you growing?” I asked Azizul. “Oyster or gano?” I added. 

“I'm growing both by following vertical expansion method,” Azizul replied.

Growing mushrooms is a craft, a work of art. From far away, it looks like rice kept in poly-bags.

I had a chat with him in one of his sheds.

“So, how many spawns can you make from each row following vertical method from this shed?”

“600.”

“How much mushroom do you get from here?”

“800 gm to 1 kg.”

So, in this row only, there are 600 spawns or bags. If 1 kg of mushroom is produced from each bag, then at least 600 kg of mushroom is grown from a single row like this.

Back in 2011-2012, you probably watched on Krishi Dibanishi (BTV) that Azizul cultivated gano mushroom at his own residence. It is famous for its medicinal features. He became popular by making tablets of this mushroom with medicinal properties in his home at that time. Many were benefited by his mushrooms.

“I started eating mushrooms from 28th of September, 2011. I lost huge amount of fat by doing so,” said Azizul Haque. He also used to go to a doctor for cardiac problems. But after he started eating gano mushroom tablets, he never had any reason to visit his doctor. 

Mushrooms have been shown to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, cholesterol-reducing, and immune-enhancing properties, as well as helping to reduce blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Consumption of mushrooms was found to be associated with lower risk of heart disease in one European study. A study of Korean breast cancer patients also found consumption of mushrooms to be associated with a significantly decreased risk of breast cancer.

“How much mushrooms do you produce in a season?”

“In this shed, I have 30 thousand spawns. I have two more sheds inside the compound. In those two, one has 10 thousand and another has 5 thousand spawns. So, there are 45 thousand spawns in total. From those, I get around 30-35 tonnes of mushrooms.

Azizul sends mushrooms to Saidpur, Rangpur and Dhaka.

Dear readers, Bangladesh today needs fully export-oriented mushroom growing, processing and freezing plants. The objective is to bring an agro-revolution in the country and to build up the nation by creating more job opportunities with more big entrepreneurs taking the challenge in hand. Also, for the small entrepreneurs mushroom can become a good source of income from the domestic market. It may provide livelihood to many poor families in one way or other because of low capital investment and it is affordable for everyone to take mushroom cultivation/farming as an enterprise. Indeed, mushroom farming, if done in proper manner and with utmost care, can become an established and profitable enterprise.