To promote mushroom cultivation in the state in a big way, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday asked the Planning department to include the scheme of mushroom cultivation in the next annual plan to provide budgetary support for its development.
The decision was taken by Badal on the recommendations of eminent mushroom cultivators to include this scheme in the state annual plan 2016-17, in view of high medicinal and nutritional value of mushroom besides being environment friendly. Mushroom cultivation would go a long way in giving impetus to the farm diversification on one hand besides enhancing the profitability of the farmers enormously on the other.
Badal also gave a go ahead to the proposal to prepare publicity material to highlight the nutritional and medicinal value of mushrooms to augment its consumption level as well as promoting the concept of farm diversification. Badal hoped that the success stories of renowned mushroom growers from the state would prove to be a milestone in motivating the young farmers to adopt mushroom cultivation as an allied agricultural activity to further improve their economic position besides making enormous contribution towards state agriculture growth.
The Chief Minister also asked the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) and Financial Commissioner Cooperation to take up the issue, of advancing loans to the mushroom growers at the prevailing rate of interest applicable on agricultural loans, with the NABARD and state level bankers’ committee, since mushroom cultivation was also an agricultural activity.
He also directed the Financial Commissioner Cooperation and Managing Director Markfed for ensuring to fix Minimum Support Price (MSP) of mushroom at Rs.70 per kg besides providing marketing support to the mushrooms growers through Markfed.
Badal asked the Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development to issue necessary instructions to dispense with the practice of issuing land use change certificate to the mushroom growers as mushroom cultivation was an agriculture activity and therefore it was redundant in this case.
likewise, the Chief Minister asked the Secretary Power and Chairman PSPCl to ensure 24-hour uninterrupted power supply at Agriculture Power (AP) Tariff on the pattern of AP High Density farming. He also ordered that any mushroom grower who was interested in having direct hotline, he could get it installed at his own expense. "Activities like composting, spawning and production would also be included in the mushroom cultivation for availing this benefit," said Badal.
It was also decided to give subsidy on the compost to enhance the profitability of mushroom growers.
The Chief Minister directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) to prepare a revised proposal to set up a Centre of Excellence in Mushroom cultivation at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), ludhiana. The upcoming centre would be equipped with the state-of-the-art laboratory to undertake research in hi-tech compost, casing and spawning.
Badal also gave approval to send a joint delegation of mushroom growers, experts from PAU and officers of state horticulture department to China and Netherland to acquire latest technical know-how regarding quality production and to bring the best quality of spawn canning to the state.
Conceding another demand of the mushroom growers, Badal directed the Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to immediately initiate action to exclude the activity of compost and cultivation of mushroom from its ambit, being an agricultural activity.
He asked all the agencies involved to boost the development of mushroom in the state to implement these decisions at the earliest so that the tremendous potential of mushroom growers could be exploited to full extent in heralding another revolution in terms of mushroom cultivation.