सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Bandipur. After the Bandipur Rural Municipality provided training on mushroom production to 25 farmers in the current fiscal year 2081/82, they have become attracted to mushroom farming. Among those receiving the training are 19 women from 6 wards of the rural municipality.
After starting to earn income by selling the produced mushrooms, they have started becoming self-reliant. After the training, the rural municipality provided materials such as seeds, plastic for tunnels and growing bags to the farmers to produce mushrooms, informed the Chief Administrative Officer of the rural municipality, Yadavraj Acharya.
According to him, the rural municipality had provided training, seeds, plastic and growing bags for mushroom farming for Rs. 150,000. Abhishek Bhattarai of the agriculture department informed that 24 farmers are working with a target of producing 3.6 metric tons of mushrooms after receiving training last December.
The mushrooms they have started producing are being consumed in the local market. Bhattarai says that farmers can earn up to 700,000 rupees with targeted production from mushrooms. Sapna Gurung of Falamdanda, Bandipur Rural Municipality-5, who has taken up mushroom farming after the training, said that she has sold mushrooms worth 6,000 rupees.
She believes that the mushrooms produced have been sold in the village and have helped to meet household expenses. Gurung said that it is difficult to earn a living by doing only general farming in the village, but that cash income can be earned even with little effort. He plans to produce enough mushrooms and sell them elsewhere.
Similarly, Dhankumari Gurung of Kerabari, Bandipur-6, said that she learned a lot from the training and is planning to invest more in the future and start commercial mushroom farming. The farmers who have taken the training have cultivated virgin mushrooms.
Virgin mushrooms are thin and white in color, like thread. This mushroom farming can be done in rice straw or wheat straw. Farmers can get considerable benefits from this farming, which can be done in both summer and winter seasons. One kilogram of straw can produce an average of five hundred to six hundred grams of mushrooms.
Chandrakala Bhattarai of Bandipur Rural Municipality-3 said that she took training and started mushroom farming after seeing the potential for income. She said that she also shares the knowledge and skills she has learned with others in the village. Bhattarai said that she plans to produce mushrooms and feed them to guests staying at homestays in Bandipur.
Most of the mushroom farmers in this area are women. Since they also earn income along with household work, they have taken the initiative to become self-reliant by engaging in mushroom production. Rural Municipality Chairman Surendra Bahadur Thapa said that the rural municipality will provide assistance to facilitate the sale of the produced mushrooms in the market.
He said that the rural municipality will take the initiative to take the produced mushrooms to hotels and restaurants in Bandipur, Dumre Bazaar, Damauli and other areas, which are the main tourist centers of the district.
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