Mushroom farming becoming popular in Morni in Haryana

Panchukla, Mar 16 (UNI) The age old saying, 'where there is will there is a way', can be aptly appiled to Kewal Singh, a disabled and landless farmer of village Morni.

He had no source of income to meet the basic needs of his family but life changed for him and his family after he came in contact with a mushroom farmer of nearby village Dharla.

" I cam to know about what exactly mushroom farming and the grant provided being offered by the Haryana Horticulture Department for this venture. After that he decided to adopt mushroom farming and applied for the grant provided for the construction of mushroom shed by the department.

Then he went to Solan in near by Himachal Pradesh for purchase of mushroom bags where he got detailed information about mushroom farming from a local farmer there. After that he started mushroom farming at his small home with full dedication and hardwork without wasting any time and in the very first year he earned a profit of about Rs 3000.

Mr Kewal Singh informed that after sometime he decided to start mushroom farming at a large scale and purchased 750 bags of 'Batan', which is a variety of mushroom from Solan. This variety costs from Rs 40 to Rs 50 per bag.

The venture prooved to be a success and Kewal Singh sold the mushrooms at a cost ranging from Rs 35 to Rs 55 per kilogram and earned about Rs 7,000. Now Kewal Singh has adopted mushroom farming on a larger scale and is hopeful that his profits would further increase.

Kewal Singh pointed out that the state Horticulture Department has been providing 50 per cent grant on the purchase of mushroom bags and Rs 25,250 for constructing mushroom unit shed.

As many as 352 farmers of this district have been benefited with the grant money of Rs 32.12 lakh provided by the department during the last two years.

Another farmer of Morni village, Jeet Singh said that he also decided to adopt the mushroom farming for earning an extra income and started with 750 bags of mushroom seed. He got 375 bags as grant from the Horiculture Department and the results were excellent that even returned the government grant in an year.

A number of farmers of Morni have also taken to mushroom farming with the assistance of the Horticulture department and are now living a happy life with their families.

UNI HS BK1431