More research is needed to increase the shelf-life of mushrooms and more people should be motivated to adopt mushroom farming, Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the 27th National Mushroom Fair organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research- Directorate of Mushroom Research, (ICAR-DMR) Solan, Shukla said scientists, producers, entrepreneurs and industries need to come together on a single platform by using the available modern technologies for enhancing its production and marketing of mushrooms.
"Mushroom production in India, which was around one lakh tonnes 10 years ago, has reached 3.50 lakh tonnes as of today and India was ranked fourth in mushroom production ensuring handsome income in a short period of two to three months" he said.
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He also appealed to the Directorate to take the production techniques to every corner of the country through agricultural universities and agricultural science centres so that the varieties produced could fetch good prices for the mushroom developers.
Governor further said that apart from commercial production, wild mushrooms such as 'Gucchi and Keedajadi' are some varieties of mushrooms which need to be worked upon to increase productivity as they can fetch a really good price. He also emphasised organising fairs, seminars, training and exhibitions from time to time to make farmers aware.
On the occasion, the Governor presented Progressive Mushroom Grower Award to Anuj Kumar from Assam, Ganesh from Maharashtra, Prakash Chand from Odisha, Rekha Kumari from Bihar, and Shije from Kerala.
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Earlier, the Governor also inaugurated the exhibition based on mushroom production put up by various entrepreneurs and interacted with them besides evincing keen interest in their produce.
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