Mushroom Farm to your Plate - How can you shorten your mushroom chain?

Cutting down the chain from mushroom farm to the consumer is important for the sustainable production and distribution. Before lockdown, the average figures for the price of fresh mushrooms for eight months in north India are as follows--

• Farmer Rs 80 per Kg
• Whole sale market Rs 125 to 140
• Retail being Rs 200 to 250 (Rs 40 to 50 per unit of 200 gm. the standard packing)

The cost of production is up with the increasing cost of straw and diesel. Some states have subsidised electricity for mushroom growing, but farmers in Rajasthan and UP are burdened with mounting energy bills. Scarcity of skilled migrant labor is adding to the woes!

Grow your own mushrooms

Sale of "ready to crop" bags (fully spawn run and case run) with easy to follow instructions on watering and picking with a cook book. Keep a few bags in the backyard, garage, anywhere under cover. To be picked regularly by family. You are also spreading and sharing the 'joy and excitement' to view them grow and pick, the organic and  freshest of mushrooms. In north India, this can be done from end November to beginning of March. It is a popular practice in cold countries. Can be a hit in urbans .  

Direct From the Farm

Packed, stored and labelled at the farm itself for the supermarkets like More, Reliance Fresh, Mother Dairy Safal, Easy Day and others. Most of the stores have air conditioned  shelves. Therefore mushrooms can be  kept for four to five days. Many outlets are open, but super  markets located in malls are not  functional /not visited in large  number due to covid 19. Super markets prefer to buy vegetables  directly from the farmers. Food processing units should be on the grower s list.

Big Mandis       

Big mandis with dedicated shops dealing with trading of mushrooms, like Azadpur mandi in New Delhi and Gorkhpur mandi in UP. These mandis are dominated by commission agents. The shop keepers, push cart vendors, restaurants and hotels, weekly market street vendors, and local grocers buy from here. Market fee + Commission + loading, unloading labor add to the cost. Exploitation of mushroom growers, especially small and new growers is rampant. This is the most common and traditional way of trading for  ages. Since the mandis (local markets) are not airconditioned, the perishable mushrooms exposed in summers lose its bright white looks.

However, these traders are efficient with vast network and very fast. In case of over production, once you reach them they may not give you the desired rate, but accept the whole consignment, as long as quality is good and you are not too late to reach them. Mushrooms, being highly perishable, if not sold on same day are gone to drain.

Short cut  

Mushrooms reach to smaller cities and towns in their respective mandis from big mandis. For example, from Azadpur mandi to Gurugram, Shahdra or Noida around Delhi. If we could send consignments directly to small mandis, we cut one step in the chain. Sometimes the orders are too small to justify cost of transportation.

Online Marketing

The new trend is e trading through Agri markets. A lot of vegetables are being sold through kisan mandi.com. The players of online delivery like Jio Mart, Reliance Fresh, Big Basket, Walmart, Grofers and others, all like to buy directly from the farm. In Delhi ,  fastandfresh.in , Freshofast.com  and in Mumbai Nature's Basket are popular. If we can club mushrooms with other vegetable and fruit growers in the same area, it can be the added attraction for players to come and collect the range needed in one go.

Bypassing the mandi can be the game changer. APMC (Agricultural produce marketing committee) may soon become obsolete. Have we forgotten mushroom grower and consumers? Expect resistance from traders/agents. Sometimes, even farmer is reluctant/impatient to wait  for a better price.  This can connect to citizen associations or groups, mushroom processors, supermarkets, restaurants, caterers and delivery players.

Online food demand after pandemic have gone up substantially and may become a permanent feature. This is a beginning of a new era of direct delivery of veggies .

My own online store

Future lies in having my own online store in the coming times, complete with video clips of growing, harvesting and packing in hygienic conditions, catchy slogans and recipes and online store. We can create our reputation by growing our mushroom crop with top quality (bright white, even medium sized, blemish free, solid buttons with minimum casing soil, seven to nine pieces in 200 gm packing, pre exposed to sunlight or UV light to enhance vit D). Combining it with other vegetable growers would help. In a country of 560 million internet users, 354 million mobile users, online marketing of fresh food directly from the grower may be a reality, in the coming times.