Patna: In the case of mushroom production, a big achievement has been achieved in the name of Bihar. Bihar has become the largest mushroom-producing state in the country. Bihar contributes ten percent to the country’s total mushroom production. According to the latest data released by the National Horticulture Board, more than 28,000 tonnes of mushrooms have been produced in Bihar from 2021-to 22. After this news, while happiness is being seen in the Agriculture Department, the hard work of mushroom growing farmers has also paid off. According to an estimate, Bihar has the highest demand for mushrooms in the northeastern states. Apart from this, there is a demand for mushrooms here in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh too.
In fact, during the Corona period, mushroom growers had trouble sending the product out and the producers also had to bear a lot of losses. The mushroom which earlier sold for Rs 150 to 180, had to sell 100 to 125 rupees a kg during the Corona period. According to Dayaram, a mushroom scientist at Rajendra Agricultural University, two types of people are producing mushrooms in Bihar. As about three dozen entrepreneurs are producing button mushrooms in a controlled environment, and more than 100 people are getting employment daily. At the same time, more than 60 thousand other small farmers are earning their livelihood by producing buttons, oysters, and milky mushrooms. In this, people who reached home after serving their sentence after taking training in jail are also included.
Dayaram told that Bihar has traveled more than 30 years to achieve this position. The development in the mushroom sector in all the districts has taken its business from four thousand crores to five thousand crores in the state. He also said that commercial cultivation of oysters, buttons, and milky mushrooms is being done in the state. While efforts are on to make pedistra, hercium and citacae with medicinal properties in commercial farming. He told that at present about 55 control units have been set up in the state, in which about three dozen mushrooms are being produced daily.
Bihar has overtaken Odisha in mushroom production. Mushroom is also produced on a large scale in Odisha.
