Bangladeshi Government initiatives to popularise oyster mushroom cultivation in two upazilas of Gopalganj have been generating good income for farmers, as more of them show interest in growing the nutritious vegetable.
In FY25, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) provided mushroom cultivation training to 120 farmers from Gopalganj Sadar and Tungipara upazilas at the horticulture centre in Kashiani Upazila.
Afterwards, a total of 161 trained farmers, including the 120, Bhaba Sindhu Talukder, and 30 other growers trained by him, received tin sheds, substrate materials, and other agricultural support. Substrate is the bulk material, such as coconut fibre, sawdust, straw, and wood chips, that mushroom spawn, or mycelium, colonises for food and energy to grow its fruiting bodies.
Ten other farmers also received Tk 200,000 each as full financial support for mushroom farming on an experimental basis, according to DAE sources. Bhaba, from the Thanapara area of Gopalganj Sadar, said he was able to harvest mushrooms within one and a half months after beginning experimental cultivation by investing about Tk 200,000 in February last year.
Read more at The Financial Express
