Mushroom King of Punjab- A successful Farmer.

Sanjeev Singh is a successful farmer from Tanda village in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India now well recognized as the Mushroom King of Punjab. He was an ordinary young farmer 25 years back when he was a college student. He plotted his success story through an experimental mushroom farming project in the backyard of his house.

At the age of 25 years, in 1992 he started farming mushrooms in the backyard of his house. He got the inspiration to try this non-conventional farming along with conventional farming from a television program. In those days Doordarshan, a government channel used to telecast especially for farmers "Mera Pind Mera Kisan" a program on farmers.

Sanjeev, now 54, is known as "Mushroom King of Punjab" and presently earning more than 1.25 crores (12.5 million INR) per year.

In the beginning, he was not aware neither have any experience of mushroom farming at all. It was the time of learning by doing all by himself.  At the time, there was also a general lack of awareness about mushrooms. The spawns (seeds) were unavailable locally and needed to be procured from Delhi.

At the outset of his journey, he righteously enrolled himself in a year-long course on mushroom farming at Punjab Agricultural University. There he learned that it was possible to grow mushrooms indoors vertically, and in bags.  And also crop does not require any soil, but organic compost, which can easily be produced.

Calculated Approach

He began growing mushrooms seasonally, which helped him earn additional income alongside conventional farming and also gradually gaining experience on the subject. For eight years, he struggled with growing good-quality mushrooms and establishing a stable market.

Scaling his mushroom farms

In an attempt to scale his mushroom business in 2001, he built a concrete room of an area around 1500 Sqft and installed metal racks over six layers inside it. Bags filled with compost were then stacked on top. It was in a controlled environment. He researched and produced organic compost containing the same amount of nitrogen as Urea does and set up his own compost unit to reduce the cost of purchases.

Sanjeev also set up a laboratory in 2008 to grow spawns for mushrooms and sell them. Over the years, his facility expanded from a 1,500-sq ft shed area,  to around 2-acre land sheds for mushroom cultivation.

Dedication, Perseverance, and focused Action

Gradually his efforts resulted in good growth of his business, his seeds and products began reaching places like Jammu, Jalandhar, Haryana, Himachal, and other neighboring states. Over the years, his production has increased to many folds today he harvest about seven quintals of mushroom a day, and he now earns around Rs 1.25 crore a year.

He attributes the reason behind his success to the lucrative market for mushrooms.  In his words “Mushrooms have high market potential. The pressure of having limited space on land to grow food is increasing. Vertical farming, used for growing mushrooms, can help save that space. He iterated that he  earned  more than  — INR 1 crore from two acres of land which otherwise would have taken about 200 acres of land to earn the same amount of money through conventional farming,”

 In 2015, he was awarded by the state government of Punjab for his progressive farming practices. 

According to him mushrooms can be grown throughout the year and are not vulnerable to harsh weather conditions. Now he has been an inspiration for many farmers living nearby who do usually come for advice and training on mushroom farming. Many farmers are taking up farming with fresh and innovative ideas to augment their income and thereby reducing stress on soil and also making a better living.

Source: The Better India

Health Benefits of Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a rich, low-calorie nutritional food source of fiber, protein, and antioxidants. They are also known to mitigate the risk of developing serious health conditions, such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, and helpful in many other health issues. Mushrooms are also great sources of selenium which is a very powerful antioxidant necessary for our body metabolism.