UNB, Comilla :
Around 2 lakh mushroom growers have been hit hard by the unavailability of mushroom spawns [seeds] in the country as a government project undertaken for its production in 2006 ended in June.
The Tk 50,000 crore project was launched in July 2006 by the Ministry of Agriculture across the country with focus on Comilla as it turned out to be the most prospective site.
Md Motahar Hossain Majumdar, deputy director of the mushroom project in Comilla, told the UNB correspondent that the ‘successful’ mushroom project came to an end on June 30, 2015 for lack of necessary public funds, halting spawn production.
He said mushroom is being consumed by around 50 lakh people in the country as a vegetable and also used for medicinal purposes, but now both farmers and consumers are disappointed as the mushroom cultivation is declining.
Mushroom farmers usually collect spawns from the Mushroom Development Institute and its other 16 sub-centres across the country.
Amid the spawn crisis, particularly for the last two months, many farmers have already stopped producing mushroom in their farms.
Mushroom is highly popular for its medicinal properties against ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and stomach ache. Due to its high nutritional content, mushroom also enjoys high demand as a vegetable. Mushroom is also sought by different restaurants as a key ingredient for many of their recipes.
Motahar Hossain said the mushroom project kicked off in 2009-10 in the district along with the mushroom institute’s Comilla sub-centre’s operations. The project managed to expand to four villages creating three entrepreneurs, 100 commercial mushroom spawn producers and 2500 seasonal mushroom farmers. The project contributed Tk 1.66 lakh in revenue to the national exchequer in the last 2014-15 fiscal year.
He said the Comilla mushroom institute sub-centre is trying its best to revive the project to resolve the mushroom spawn crisis but nothing has been decided as of yet by the top government authorities.
Motahar is hopeful that the government will again allocate funds for their mushroom project and that they can start generating revenues like before.
Upon visiting a mushroom village centre in Burichong of Comilla, it was seen the place is all quiet. Around 100 mushroom farmers, including many women, associated with the centre were all found sitting idle with anxiety on their faces.
Most of them said mushroom farming is easy and highly profitable. They used to run their families with the income they earned from mushroom selling, but now they find it hard to support their families.
One disheartened mushroom farmer, Jashim Uddin, told UNB, “My family has been involved with mushroom farming for the last six years. This resulted in a monthly income of around Tk 30,000 for my family. Seeing this, many others started producing mushrooms. But now without any mushroom spawn, we have nothing to work with and earn to live for the future.”
Saiful Islam of Chouddagram of Comilla said, “I’ve invested Tk 50 lakh in mushroom business. My business was going all fine but now things have turned bleak. If no more further mushroom seeds are available, then I have to lose out all my investment and become pauper. My customers have also lost interest in buying mushroom as supply is not there anymore.”
Dr Nirodh Chandra Sarkar, deputy director of the National Mushroom Development Institute, said, “Every project has a specific timeline and the time for this ongoing project has come to an end temporarily. But we’re hoping that things will improve in the coming months and that mushroom spawns will again be available at all sub-centres countrywide very soon”.
Around 2 lakh mushroom growers have been hit hard by the unavailability of mushroom spawns [seeds] in the country as a government project undertaken for its production in 2006 ended in June.
The Tk 50,000 crore project was launched in July 2006 by the Ministry of Agriculture across the country with focus on Comilla as it turned out to be the most prospective site.
Md Motahar Hossain Majumdar, deputy director of the mushroom project in Comilla, told the UNB correspondent that the ‘successful’ mushroom project came to an end on June 30, 2015 for lack of necessary public funds, halting spawn production.
He said mushroom is being consumed by around 50 lakh people in the country as a vegetable and also used for medicinal purposes, but now both farmers and consumers are disappointed as the mushroom cultivation is declining.
Mushroom farmers usually collect spawns from the Mushroom Development Institute and its other 16 sub-centres across the country.
Amid the spawn crisis, particularly for the last two months, many farmers have already stopped producing mushroom in their farms.
Mushroom is highly popular for its medicinal properties against ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and stomach ache. Due to its high nutritional content, mushroom also enjoys high demand as a vegetable. Mushroom is also sought by different restaurants as a key ingredient for many of their recipes.
Motahar Hossain said the mushroom project kicked off in 2009-10 in the district along with the mushroom institute’s Comilla sub-centre’s operations. The project managed to expand to four villages creating three entrepreneurs, 100 commercial mushroom spawn producers and 2500 seasonal mushroom farmers. The project contributed Tk 1.66 lakh in revenue to the national exchequer in the last 2014-15 fiscal year.
He said the Comilla mushroom institute sub-centre is trying its best to revive the project to resolve the mushroom spawn crisis but nothing has been decided as of yet by the top government authorities.
Motahar is hopeful that the government will again allocate funds for their mushroom project and that they can start generating revenues like before.
Upon visiting a mushroom village centre in Burichong of Comilla, it was seen the place is all quiet. Around 100 mushroom farmers, including many women, associated with the centre were all found sitting idle with anxiety on their faces.
Most of them said mushroom farming is easy and highly profitable. They used to run their families with the income they earned from mushroom selling, but now they find it hard to support their families.
One disheartened mushroom farmer, Jashim Uddin, told UNB, “My family has been involved with mushroom farming for the last six years. This resulted in a monthly income of around Tk 30,000 for my family. Seeing this, many others started producing mushrooms. But now without any mushroom spawn, we have nothing to work with and earn to live for the future.”
Saiful Islam of Chouddagram of Comilla said, “I’ve invested Tk 50 lakh in mushroom business. My business was going all fine but now things have turned bleak. If no more further mushroom seeds are available, then I have to lose out all my investment and become pauper. My customers have also lost interest in buying mushroom as supply is not there anymore.”
Dr Nirodh Chandra Sarkar, deputy director of the National Mushroom Development Institute, said, “Every project has a specific timeline and the time for this ongoing project has come to an end temporarily. But we’re hoping that things will improve in the coming months and that mushroom spawns will again be available at all sub-centres countrywide very soon”.
