Japanese team helping farmers to grow mushrooms to raise income

A four-member delegation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mission visited the project areas in Kangra on Tuesday and reviewed the new agricultural practices being adopted by the farmers in Himachal Pradesh Crop Diversification Promotion Project.

While talking to media persons here media advisor of the project Rajeshwar Thakur said that delegation visited the Collection Centre at Paprola and held interactive sessions with the beneficiary farmers and its Self Help Groups of female farmers.

Rajeshwar Thakur said that the JICA Mission team visited the Shitake Cultivation and Training Centre (SCTC) at Palampur which was established in technical collaboration with Yats Corporation of Japan. The team members interacted with the staff at Shiitake Centre and the Shiitake growers. The centre was set up at the CSK Palampur Agricultural University campus at a cost of Rs 3.25 crore. Rs 5.9 crore will be spent in nine years during the JICA Agriculture Project on the centre.

The centre started growing Shiitake on wooden blocks. Since April 2022, 10,684 wooden blocks have been prepared. By August end this year, 53.57 kg dried mushrooms were produced. the centre has generated revenue of Rs3.31 lakh by selling fresh and dried Shiitake mushrooms along with ready to grow Shiitake wooden blocks. After standardising the cultivation technique in April, 2023, the Centre has conducted eight training programmes. The Centre has distributed 2,675 trial blocks to farmers across different locations for adaptability.