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Mushrooms-smart solution for empowering of rural women through enterprise

Last Updated on 2020-03-27
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CSR

CSR ID: 10044

Mushrooms are popular for their nutritional benefits. In India, we have 04 popular varieties-button, milky white, oyster and shiitake which are commercially promoted. Nearly 90 percentage is encroached by button variety alone. Button mushroom technology was largely adapted from Europe & Hence the conditions to grow this mushroom also needs temperate conditions which are cost intensive, and the product has low shelf-life and chemically treated compared to local varieties. At present, the total mushroom production in India is approximately 0.13 million tons growing at 4.3percentage per annum. Compared to other vegetables, per capita consumption of mushrooms in India is meagre and it is less than 100 grams per year. This is one crop that can have a great impact in uplifting the economic conditions of rural farmers, and an easy way to double the farmers income through alternative farming. The local varieties such as -milky white [Calocybe indica] and Oyster [Pleurotus spp.] have several advantages in growing them such as availability of large quantity of agro-waste for substratum, ambient temperature ensures no intensive capital requirement- indoor cultivation helps escape from climatic vagaries- chemical-free method ensures quality food to customer- highly valued product [Rs. 150-300orkg] fetches more income- 6-9 harvest per year based on the variety compared to 3 crops from vegetables- preparation of seeds very easy and extended shelf-life- raw material for several food industries such as mayonnaise, sauce, jams, pickles, soups and others. This creates enterprises for rural youth in mushroom business value chain as sustainable alternative livelihood.

Project Impact

Food Security- Mushrooms are highly nutritious-rich in proteins, fibers, vitamin D & E and minerals such as potassium, iodine. Availability of mushrooms at affordable prices would ensure nutrition food in rural and semi-urban towns where malnutrition is prominent. About 40 gms of protein is needed every day for healthy life. Sadly, many children do not get the minimum nutrition due to unavailability and unaffordability of protein-rich foods. Mushrooms cultivated in rural set up can ensure both availability and affordability. Since, mushrooms can be cultivated indoors and up to 6 times per year, it ensures consistent supply of the product. Ecological- Post-harvest pollution is huge in India. After every harvest, the farmers get little time and have few resources to clear the land for next crop. So, they either discard or burn the agricultural residue, such as in Punjab & Haryana. In Andhra Pradesh too many farmers do that. Instead, the agri-waste can be used as substratum for mushroom cultivation. Economical- From our experience in mentoring mushroom entrepreneurs, an individual can earn about 10 lakhs per year by cultivating mushrooms in a space of about 1200 sftor2bhk house. By further value addition such as pickling, powdering, cookies, sauces and others, one can raise the income to about 12-15 lakhs per year. Youngsters, women, retired or anyone can take up mushroom cultivation as sustainable income model. A farmer gets about 01 ton of rice from an acre of land which is about 30,000-40,000 income. But the utilization of paddy straw which is an agri-waste about 2 tons for mushroom cultivation would fetch another 50,000 to the farmer. By introducing this enterprise model, the farmers income can be doubled. For 1200 kg mushroom production, the average expenses would be Rs. 4,32,000. So, roughly 1200 kg * 6 crops * Rs. 150 = 10,80,000 is the annual turnover for total wholesale market. Social- Unemployment and crop failure are driving rural youth to migrate to towns and cities in search of jobs. This is leading to cascade of several social issues such as lack of work force, lack of care for elderly in villages for their medical and other needs, security to the family and dip in economic activity in the villages. Providing them an alternative livelihood through enterprise mode would motivate them to work in rural setups. If they are mentored and trained in technical knowhows, financial management, innovation, business development, networking and marketing, they would be self-reliant and capable of mitigating many of the social issue discussed above. Currently, we have given training on Entrepreneurship in Mushroom Industry to nearly 100 people in last one year. Now, we have three production units in Anantapur with a total of 5000 sft production area. Large number of farmers, graduates, housewives and retired professionals have joined this program and some of them have already set up their units. They are being mentored by us in marketing, business and scale-up. By this initiative, we would be reaching out to 100 members [includes primarily women and rural youth] directly through training and mentoring. As a spin-off, at least 300-400 members will be benefitted through the initiative. The end users of the products from this inititatve who are primarily rural children, women and elderly will be the most benefitted as they receive quality, nutiritous food at affordable price.

Project Snapshot
  • Sector
    CSR
  • Sub-Sector
    Technology Incubators
  • CSR Sub-Sector Brief
    Technology De-risking
Funding Details
  • Funding Requirement (in USD)
    0.13 mn
  • Funding Status
    Partially funded
Other Funding Detail
  • ADI Foundation has partnered with AIC-SKU incubator to promote mushroom enterprise model in rural areas by providing their infrastructure and staff.
Project Location| Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh India
Address 1:

Andhra Pradesh, Ananthapuramu

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