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WITH the ever increasing population and shrinking land, secondary agricultural vocations are going to occupy a prominent place to fill the void of quality food requirements. The demand for quality food and novel products is increasing with the changes in life style and income. The present century is going to be a century of functional foods free from synthetic chemicals. Mushroom cultivation fits very well into this category and is going to be an important vocation. Diversification in any farming system imparts sustainability. Mushrooms are one such component that not only impart diversification but also help in addressing the problems of quality food, health and environmental sustainability. Commercial production of edible mushrooms represents unique exploitation of the microbial technology for the bioconversion of the agricultural, industrial, forestry and household wastes into nutritious food (mushrooms). India produces about 600 million tonnes of agricultural byproducts, which can profitably be utilized for the cultivation of mushrooms. Currently, we are using 0.04% of these residues for producing around 1.2 lakh tons of mushrooms of which 85% is button mushroom. India contributes about 3% of the total world button mushroom production. Even if we use 1% of the residues for mushroom production, we can produce 3.0 million tons of mushrooms, which will be almost equal to current global button mushroom production (current world production as per FAO Stat. is 3.4 million tons). Mushrooms are considered the highest protein producer per unit area and time due to utilization of vertical space and short crop cycle. Due to their cultivation under controlled conditions the water requirement is less than any other crop grown in the field and has all the potentials of being a major crop in coming years. In fact, China that was producing just 60,000 tons of mushrooms in 1978 is now producing around 18 million tons of mushrooms, contributing almost 70% of the total world mushroom production.
Dr. Manjit Singh
Director, DMR and Project Coordinator, AICRPM |
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