Various kinds of mushroom can be grown easily in Bangladesh. If mushrooms suited to the season are grown, there is no need for expensive cooling equipment. Oyster and ear mushrooms can be grown all year round, though yields of all oysters except pink and PO-10 oyster fall a little in hot weather. Milky, straw and reishi mushrooms can be grown in summer, and shiitake and button mushrooms in winter.
How mushrooms are grown
Mushroom production needs spawn, or seed. At first, spawn can be collected from the government mushroom institute or from private mushroom farms. But it is better to make your own. For that, the simple methods of producing spawn on rice straw and sawdust should be learned hands-on from the Mushroom Development Institute.
Why grow them
Growing mushrooms needs no arable land. Someone with no farmland at all can produce large amounts of mushroom in an unused space beside the house or on a north-facing veranda. The raw materials needed for spawn, such as straw, sawdust, paper and wheat bran, are easily available and cheap. The country's climate suits mushroom farming. People of all classes and occupations can grow mushrooms, family labour can be used, and they can be grown on racks. More income is possible with little capital and labour.
Quick returns
When spawn packets are produced by pasteurisation, they take 10 to 15 days to fill with mycelium. Depending on the variety, mushrooms appear within three to seven days of cutting the spawn packet, so the money invested can be recovered in a short time.
How to get good yields
For good yields, collect or make good-quality spawn of improved varieties. Choose the mushroom and variety according to the season. Keep humidity high in the growing room, maintain the heat and light each mushroom needs, and arrange for enough oxygen to enter and excess carbon dioxide to escape.
Market potential
There is demand for mushrooms in hotels, supershops and Chinese restaurants in the country's big cities. They can also be sold at local fresh markets, fry shops, grocery stores, street corners and bus stands. Mushrooms can be dried and sold far away, and even exported. Mushroom markets have grown up based on the Mushroom Development Institute's concept, and help is given with selling fresh and dried mushrooms from various districts.
Citing the Agriculture Information Service (AIS).
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
Comments
(0)