A small time farmer of Gurugram has now become a source of inspiration for several farmers in the Delhi NCR for his ‘mushrooming’ business that has served him rich monetary harvest. Prahlad Singh of Daboda village in Gurugram now earns a profit of Rs 20 lakh annually from mushroom farm production.
Prahlad Singh told that earlier he was producing millet and wheat as traditional farming in which the income was becoming negligible and the profit was also decreasing day by day due to increased expenditure and less production. In such a situation, inspiration was taken from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideas of doubling the income and emphasizing on commercial farming using modern technology.
“If the farmer becomes modern and moves towards commercial farming, then along with doubling the income of the farmer, the face of agriculture and horticulture in the area will also change,” Prahlad said. Gurugram ADC Hitesh Kumar Meena visited the village mushroom production unit of Prahlad Singh on Saturday.
After collecting information from District Horticulture Officer Neha Yadav, a plan was chalked out to set up a mushroom production unit by taking advantage of the schemes of the department. A complete setup prepared in about 8 kanal area costing about Rs 40 lakh was completed.
While the farmer got 40 percent subsidy by the District Horticulture Department he also took a loan from bank for the remaining amount. The farmer told that he has set up a compost unit and four production units with government help.
A production cycle of 90 days runs in each production unit. Prahlad informed that about 38 to 40 quintals of mushroom is being produced from one unit. The wholesale price of mushroom in the market is around Rs 140 to 150 per kg. Due to which all four units are earning Rs 20 to 22 lakh as net profit after deducting all the expenses in the whole year.
Prahlad Singh said that most of the wholesalers in the area are coming to the farms and taking mushrooms. Due to this they do not even need to go to the market. He told that he is currently trying to get direct deals with other big food establishments in Gurugram and NCR.
“The horticulture department is ready to provide them all possible help. Under the departmental scheme, the maximum unit cost of mushroom compost and a mushroom production unit has been fixed at Rs 20 lakh by the Horticulture Department, Haryana in the district. In which 40 percent amount will be given in the form of grant in General category and 85 percent amount in Scheduled Caste category,” said district government official.
