Nawalparasi farmers make good income from mushroom farming

Farmers in Nawalparasi Purba have found their calling in mushroom farming. They are able to make good income from it. Karna Lal Shrestha, a 61-year-old farmer, has been running an agro farm in Gaidakot Municipality-5 for two years. Started with the investment of Rs 6.5 million on six katthas of land, the business has been generating at least Rs 100 thousand in income per month for him. He has built three huts for the farming. The land and other spaces are taken in lease. “I have been selling at least 20,000 kilograms of mushroom annually. I earned minimum Rs 100 thousand per month in profit- excluding expenditures,” he shared. His aging has not deterred him from the business. “Age is just a number. What you need is willpower and courage,” he encourages the visitors. A large amount of money was spent on building physical infrastructures for the business. The huts are used as rooms to store hay required for the farming, he said. Shrestha switched to the farming, finding it profitable after spending his 30 years’ time with his father on another business. The farming is suitable during both winter and summer, and its market is also excellent, he said. Shrestha is further encouraged when the Municipality provided him an autoclave machine to steam hay in 50 percent subsidy. An autoclave machine costs Rs 1 million. “Mushroom farming is profitable than other farming. Mushroom grows and is ready for harvest in a span of 30 days. It provides good incomes,” he explained.