Endrojit finds fortune in mushrooms

A youth from Shailakupa upazila in Jhenaidah has made a fortune by cultivating mushrooms commercially while training and employing others in his venture at the same time.

Endrojit Kumar, a resident of Hatfazilpur village, was born amid poverty. He still managed to complete his graduation and master's in history from Rajshahi University.

However, having found no employment opportunities to help his family financially, he began looking for opportunities as a small entrepreneur and took inspiration from Magura's Babul Aktar to cultivate mushrooms after watching his videos on YouTube.

He took training in this regard in August 2021 and started cultivation, initially producing 400 packets of mushrooms by spending Tk 44,000. However, 200 packets got  rotten, and the remaining 200 were sold in the market for Tk 20,000.

He refused to give up despite his setback. In 2022, he leased 15 decimals of land at Tk 3,000 per month for 10 years and expanded his production capacity.

He produced five tonnes of mushrooms until September this year and sold each tonne for Tk 2 lakh. In this venture, he has an operational and infrastructural cost of Tk 6 lakh per year. This means he roughly cuts a profit of Tk 4 lakh every year.

He cultivates milky and oyster varieties of mushrooms.

Endrojit also said he employs around 10-15 workers and expects to create more employment in the future.

Payel Biswas, a student at Hatfazilpur Secondary School, and Tumpa Biswas, an honour's student at Aminur Rahman Degree College, work at Endrojit's mushroom farm during their leisure hours, among others.

Payel said she had purchased the materials to learn mushroom farming and, at present, can produce 100 packets of mushrooms every day and earns Tk 300 by selling each for Tk 3.

Tumpa said she works at the mushroom farm and is now able to contribute financially to her family.

Endrojit said he will be able to produce at least 30 tonnes of mushrooms by 2024 and engage 10,000 youths on his farm.

Asgar Ali, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Jhenaidah, said he had visited Endrojit's mushroom farm and was impressed by the youth's entrepreneurial endeavour.