Tonk women turning into entrepreneurs with mushroom farming

Self-help groups developing mushroom sheds under MGNREGA

Women in the remote villages of Rajasthan’s Tonk district are turning into entrepreneurs with the commercial cultivation of white button mushrooms, which has opened up a new livelihood avenue and changed the face of rural economy. The initiative has made the women self-reliant and enabled them to manage their family finances.

About 80 women’s self-help groups (SHGs) in Niwai block have taken up modern farming of mushrooms by preparing sheds at home. The pilot project, launched in Mundia, Gunsi and Raholi village panchayats in August 2021, has highlighted the significance of mushrooms as nutrient supplements to the food with a high medicinal and pharmaceutical value.

Since the mushroom cultivation involves fabrication of sheds, with very little need for land, the task was covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme’s works for direct individual benefits. Many of the women who initially joined the project were already working under the flagship employment scheme as members of rural households.

While the Krishi Vigyan Kendras provided training in mushroom cultivation to the women attached to SHGs, the Rajasthan Grameen Ajeevika Vikas Parishad and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency arranged the mushroom seeds and extended other assistance to women. During the last six months, each SHG member has been earning an average monthly profit of ₹10,000 in the new avocation.

Ajeevika Vikas Parishad’s district project manager Mukesh Chawla said the SHG members were themselves performing the task of cleaning and packing of mushrooms. The responsibility for marketing was given to the producers’ groups as well as the officials managing the SHG clusters, while the money received after sale was directly credited to women’s bank accounts, he said.

The process of mushroom farming involves compost preparation, spawn-run, casing and harvesting. The mushroom sheds of several layers are made of steel or wood and their area measures up to 360 square feet. The compost is used as a substrate for growing white button mushrooms, while straw is used as a base material for mushroom farming.

The growth of mushrooms is completed in 30 to 45 days, after which it is plucked or cut. Geeta Meena of Gunsi village said she had started the work with an initial investment of ₹1 lakh and was earning good profit. “The Block Development Officer’s regular monitoring has helped us in the expansion of our work,” she said.