For the first two years, ICAR provided free seeds but now the women buy it at Rs 60 a kg. “One kilogram of seed yields 10-14 kg of mushroom. The winter variety sells at Rs 50-60 per kg while in summer they get Rs 80-120,” said A R Khan, principal scientist at ICAR in Patna.
It takes just three months for the crop to be ready and it can be grown round the year with a little bit of care.
But of the 25 women, at least half quit after ICAR stopped providing free seeds. “I had left growing the mushrooms, but I will now start again and become like Lal Muni,” says Nirmala Devi of the same village.
Many men from the village are also picking up farming after seeing the price mushrooms fetch.
Khan said recently a team from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation came to Azad Nagar to meet Lal Muni and other farmers. The foundation run by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has shown interest in agricultural projects in the state that target poor farmers.
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