With all-time high production, mushroom emerging as new cash crop in Jammu and Kashmir
Officials of the agriculture department said that mushroom production is at an all-time high across Jammu and Kashmir in the past two years to the extent that it is emerging as a new cash crop in the union territory.
Mushroom production has registered a substantial increase in Jammu and Kashmir and it is expected to catch up fast with the demand for the food product in the union territory.
Officials of the agriculture department said that mushroom production is at an all-time high across J&K in the past two years to the extent that it is emerging as a new cash crop in the union territory.
“We are one of the biggest consumers of mushrooms in Kashmir but all of this would come from outside. Now for the past two years, the production has increased multifold. From an earlier single crop at some 40-50 units, the production has increased to the extent that we produce two major crops in a year at some 1,500 units,” said Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal, director, agriculture, Kashmir.
He said that they were attempting to increase the livelihood of the youth by making them ‘mushroom entrepreneurs’.
“Mushrooms are produced everywhere but the quality of the mushroom we grow in Kashmir matters because the temperature here is ideal for its growth,” he said.
The government says that under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (National Agriculture Development Programme) mushroom cultivation is a focus area in J&K and the growers are provided with quality seeds and trained in scientific cultivation techniques. The administration’s 50% subsidy and technical knowledge are making cultivation profitable for growers.
Mostly three types of mushrooms are grown in the union territory which includes button, milky and dingri, which are grown either naturally or under a controlled atmosphere.
Dr Shabir-ur-rehman, who is a researcher at Integrated Mushroom Centre, Lal Mandi in Kashmir, said that they have almost doubled the number of input bags to 85,000 filled with spawn(seeds) and compost to be provided to the cultivators in 2021-22 than 40,000 in 2019-20.
“In a market survey, we came to know that the Valley would consume some 15 to 21 tonnes of mushrooms every day of which just 15% would be produced locally. But for the past two years, the production is increasing fast and we are able to produce 40-50% of what we consume,” he said.
The department provided 85,550 input bags to 860 growers which produced 1,538 quintals of mushrooms while 627 growers were provided 62,000 bags with a production of 894 quintals in 2020-21.
In the Jammu division, the story is similar with the consumption of mushrooms multiplying owing to the huge number of yatris (including Vaishno Devi) that visit the region.
“The production is showing an increasing trend with new growers adding up using high-end technology and high-tech structures. Mushrooms here are grown under a controlled atmosphere as well as under a natural system as they are temperature and humidity dependent,” said joint director, Apiculture and Mushroom Development, RK Hitashi.
“It is a cash crop and multiplies the income of growers. We are also providing a 50% subsidy besides imparting awareness and training to the cultivators,” he said.
He said that the growers are also taught value addition to their produce. “The production of dry mushrooms, packaging them or making pickles, all these are done involving self-help groups, which helps increase the earnings of the growers,” he said.
Also, the collection of wild Gucci mushrooms is very much popular in Jammu. In the Shivalik range of the Jammu region, mushrooms (especially Gucchi) provide income security to peasants.
“With the recent government interventions, forest-dwellers in Jammu Shivaliks are being given formal training and instructions about mushroom collection and processing techniques, market knowledge and market access, so that their efforts pay them their rightly earned share,” said a government spokesperson.
“Women-led self-help groups are being encouraged under Hausla and Tejaswini entrepreneurship schemes introduced by the Centre in J&K,” he said.