Parbat, April 8: Savitri Khatri of Jaljala Rural Municipality-8 has succeeded in earning a good income from commercial mushroom farming. Khatri, who has been active in commercial agriculture for the past 11 years, has started earning more than Rs. 1.2 million annually from mushroom and vegetable farming, realizing that she can do something in her village through agriculture.
Khatri, a leading farmer, says that she produces kanye and gobre mushrooms in four dome tunnels and consumes them in the neighboring districts of Baglung, Myagdi and Parbat’s Kushma market. This year, she has earned more than Rs. 700,000 from mushrooms alone. “I am satisfied with the income from mushroom farming, there is no problem in selling the mushrooms produced,” said farmer Khatri. She used to sell gobre mushrooms for Rs. 500 per kilogram and kanye mushrooms for Rs. 200, but this year she earned Rs. 500,000 from gobre mushrooms and Rs. 200,000 from gobre mushrooms.
Khatri, a farmer who also prepares raw materials, sells other vegetables produced on seven ropanis of land for Rs 500,000. Apart from mushrooms, she said that she has been producing vegetables such as cucumber, ghiraila, bodi, beans, bitter gourd, bhaanta, chillies, coriander, carrots and others according to the season.
She said that there is no problem in marketing the mushrooms and vegetables produced as it is close to the headquarters of all three districts and is close to the Maldhunga-Beni road under the Kaligandaki corridor. Khatri has started mushroom cultivation all year round by adding a high-tech tunnel this year. She said that mushrooms will be produced in both winter and summer in the air-conditioned tunnel. Now she will have a continuous income from mushroom cultivation, she said.
Khatri, who is socially and politically active, has been expanding mushroom cultivation as it gives good yields and requires less labor. Her husband Bhim Bahadur KC, who has returned from foreign employment, is helping in the production and marketing of mushrooms and other vegetable cultivation. She said that now, apart from her husband, she is also farming vegetables by finding wage laborers from time to time.
Khatri said that since farming does not require a large space or time and it is easy to sell, her husband has started helping her without going abroad. Khatri has experience that if you work hard, you can earn the money your husband earns abroad by working hard here. Khatri said that with the income from mushroom farming, she has been able to send her daughter abroad for higher education and has also sent her son to a private school. Apart from this, she said that she has been able to save in the bank. She said that her experience has shown that if you work hard and diligently, you do not have to go abroad to earn money.
Rural Municipality Chairman Raju Prasad Acharya said that the attraction of farmers to engage in commercial farming has increased in the rural municipality in recent times. “The rural municipality is also encouraging it, and in the coming days, we will also increase subsidies for mushroom farming,” Acharya said. Mushrooms are a versatile food item. Mushrooms contain all types of protein found in vegetables and meat and are easily digestible, making them very useful for children and the elderly. Since mushrooms contain 90 percent water, this is considered very important. Mushrooms prevent diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
