Farming has been the major style of living since ancient times. However, with the advent of technology and knowledge, different types of farming came into existence. Organic farming is one of the major forms of farming which is being propagated widely nowadays.
Because of its enormous benefits, it became popular and is being followed by many farmers all over the world. Meet Sri Lakshmi through our article who is cultivating mushrooms easily and earning lakhs of Rupees.
In this article, we are going to provide you with a success story of mushroom farmer Sri Lakshmi and also see the step-by-step process of cultivating mushrooms at home easily.
Inspiring Story of a Woman Who Earning Lakhs From Cultivating Mushrooms
Look into the story of a married woman who completed his PG but due to her interest in farming, she started mushroom cultivation after marriage.
- Srilakshmi is a modern farmer from Rajahmundry which is located in East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh.
- She has been cultivating Milky Mushrooms for a period of more than seven years.
- Earlier she struggled a lot in Mushroom farming, later on by approaching some mushroom farmers and scientists and also by adopting organic cultivation, she succeeded in Milky Mushroom farming and earned profits.
- She recognized with the experience that by maintaining cleanliness in the forms, and proper maintaining of temperatures & moisture in the dark and light rooms, one can achieve more profits of approximately 99%.
- Now she is literally earning one lakh per month on Mushroom cultivation itself.
Sri Lakshmi Explained the Step-by-Step Procedure of Mushroom Cultivation
Srilakshmi says that by following best practices like hygiene, and maintaining dark rooms properly i.e. with proper temperature and moisture, and by adopting organic methods, one can see more profits in mushroom cultivation.
Look into the step-by-step process of mushroom cultivation that was explained by the woman farmer.
You see the ingredients that she used will be dried paddy straw, Spawn, a mixture of black soil, and coco pit, as the main ingredients in the cultivation of Milky Mushrooms.
- Firstly we need to take the dried paddy straw and cut it into small tiny pieces of size half to one inch by using a straw job cutter, to make the cultivation process easier.
- Later that tiny paddy straw was allowed to soak in water for almost 10 hours and then it was sterilized by following the steaming and boiling method which was an organic process.
- The sterilized paddy straw is allowed to dry in a hygienic area ensuring that there will be 20% to 30% of moisture in it.
- A healthy spawn of 30gms has been taken in between the sterilized paddy straw as layers to form a bed within a polythene bag which is biodegradable.
- These beds were kept tight and some holes were made in them using a sterilized needle in order to provide air access to the layers of the bed.
- These beds were kept in dark rooms (incubation rooms which were prepared earlier by spraying neem oil in order to make those rooms hygienic or out of contamination) for 21 days maintaining the temperature between 28-36 degrees Celsius and moisture between 60 to 80 for proper formation of Mycelium.
- Thereafter these beds were removed and made into two halves.
- A sterilized black soil coco pit mixture was taken on both halves of each bed and was kept in a lightroom (where sunlight was available or artificial light was provided).
- And should water them in order to avoid drying of black soil. These lightrooms were maintained with specific temperatures and moisture.
- After a few days of maintaining the beds in the lightroom, mushrooms start to grow and the crop should be harvested after the size of the mushroom becomes 2 to 4 inches which yields a good market price.
- After harvesting the first crop, the black soil coco pit mixture will be changed so that the second crop will grow.
- Generally, Srilakshmi says that the fungus in the beds is sufficient to get only two crops of mushrooms.
- But even after two crops the whole beds will be taken into some tubs and if watered properly, she says that there will be a nominal crop with the leftover fungus in those beds.
- Besides that, she says that all other types of mushrooms will be rotten after 2 to 3 days, unlike Milky Mushrooms. But these Milky Mushrooms can be used for almost 4 to 5 days even for 10 days if frozen properly.
Key Outcomes
Srilakshmi says that this organic Mushroom farming can be done throughout the year except in the month of May due to high temperatures.
Along with these mushrooms, Sri Lakshmi also grows other varieties of mushrooms like Oyster mushrooms. And with this, she is also providing employment to many women, and the youth who doesn’t have any employment and for many other.
Besides all this, she is also selling the fungus of those mushrooms, and other supplies at less cost.