To provide the latest technology to the mushroom growers across Punjab, the State Government will soon set up a Centre of Excellence for mushroom cultivation at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) in ludhiana.
This step is aimed at giving further impetus to the state government’s ambitious program of diversification in agriculture, said the official spokesperson of the State Horticulture Department on Monday.
The Centre will cater to the needs of mushroom growers and primarily focus on the issues related to quality supply of mushroom seeds, marketing support, processing and the new technologies to save their crops from the vagaries of weather, said the spokesperson.
As a part of the drive for giving new push to crop diversification plan, the state government has given special focus to mushroom cultivation — both Oyster and Button verities — which resulted in the production of 5,044 metric tonnes in the state during the previous year.
The growth in production was both in respect of Oyster and Button mushroom varieties. “Oyster has shown significant increase, as Oyster was produced in 12 adopted villages and Button Mushroom was produced in 261 other units,” he said.
Three villages of ludhiana, one of Gurdaspur, two of Sangrur, two of Sri Muktsar Sahib, one of Barnala and three of Pathankot were adopted.
The State Government had sent a delegation of local mushroom growers to China to make them well conversant with the latest emerging technologies in the field. China caters to almost 80 per cent of total mushroom production at global level.
Farmers of the State were found to be quite receptive to the new and the latest technologies. This initiative would prove to be very helpful to enhance their income provided the farmers are imparted the necessary information and by the researchers and experts from time to time.
The State Government and PAU is providing all facilities to the growers and PAU has set up a modern demonstration plant for mushroom cultivation so as to educate the farmers to establish their own units on the scientific lines.