Bangladeshi youth Delwar Hossain first ate mushrooms while living in Saudi Arabia. After returning home he dreamed of setting up a farm, and went on to grow mushrooms commercially. Through his own labour and skill he is now successful, and his farm in Binod Dharmapur village of Tewariganj in Lakshmipur Sadar upazila is full of mushrooms.

Delwar's farm now has three varieties of mushroom, sold in local markets as well as in Noakhali, Chattogram and Dhaka. The entrepreneur dreams of exporting this low-investment, high-profit product, both for his own advancement and to create jobs for unemployed young people in the area. Many local people have become interested after seeing his example.

At the farm beside his house, the first stage of mushroom production involves a mixture of wood, straw, wheat bran, calcium lime and water. This is filled into polythene-wrapped packets, holes are made and white plastic mouths fitted. The packets are then kept in a sterilising machine for 24 hours, and afterwards held for 28 days with mother tissue in test tubes in an air-conditioned lab room.

The packets are then hung in rows in the main farm, and mushrooms of all sizes push out through the polythene. Some 20-25 kg are picked and marketed every day, selling at Tk 200 to 250 a kg. Many people nearby like to buy them to cook with meat, in soup and as a vegetable.

"After 13 years abroad I came home in despair," Delwar Hossain said. "In December 2022 I set up the mushroom farm. I took training with help from the agriculture department and have kept going. If awareness is raised and marketing done properly, there is potential to export mushrooms. For every Tk 100 spent, Tk 40 is earned."

"If I got interest-free loans on easy terms, the farm could be expanded," he said. "And if the government and private sector campaigned on the nutritional value and benefits of mushrooms, a big market would develop in the country and jobs would be created."

Lakshmipur Sadar upazila agriculture officer Md Hasan Imam said: "Mushrooms show promise. We are also working to give those interested training and all other support."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.