Chhattisgarh farmer earns Rs 10,000 daily by growing mushrooms under mango trees, curbs stubble burning across 150 acres

While paddy straw is burnt after harvest in many parts of India, causing pollution and loss of soil nutrients, Rajendra Kumar Sahu uses it to earn a net daily income of Rs 10,000. A progressive farmer with three MA degrees, he grows organic paddy straw mushrooms in the Basna Tehsil of Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district.

His farm, under mango trees in his village, has a daily production of 50 kg of paddy mushrooms, known for their umami flavour and earthy aroma. They sell at Rs 270 to Rs 300 per kg, higher than oyster and button mushrooms, due to their superior taste and limited production in India.

“The costs are around Rs 70 to Rs 80 per bed, which yields a kg of paddy straw mushrooms,” Rajendra tells 30Stades.

He recalls that earlier, paddy straw mushrooms (locally called para) used to grow naturally in fields. However, with the increasing use of harvesters, farmers began burning stubble. This not only destroyed useful plants and microorganisms but also left animals without food.

“That is when I realised that if straw is used instead of burnt, farmers can earn money and the environment can be saved,” says Rajendra, who completed MA Sanskrit Acharya in 2002, followed by MA in Hindi (2004) and MA in Social Work in 2006.

His father worked in the agriculture department, so discussions around farming, crops, and rural livelihoods were always part of his life.

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Experiments and learning

Rajendra began oyster mushroom farming in 2005 after studying the available literature. He procured spawn (mushroom seeds) from Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV), Raipur, for Rs 200 (at Rs 8 per kg). “The production was modest at about 10 kg. I sold it locally and found that market response was not encouraging for oyster mushrooms,” he says.

So Rajendra decided to focus on paddy straw mushroom farming. In 2006, he sourced 5 kg of spawn from Odisha for Rs 200 and prepared 25 beds. “The results were better as I harvested 15 kg of mushrooms, selling them at Rs 200 per kg, which was considered a very good price then,” he adds.

Typically, paddy straw mushrooms thrive in warm, humid conditions. They are cultivated during the monsoon and hotter months, generally from May to September.

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Rajendra continued experimenting to increase the cultivation period beyond four to five months. Until then, he depended on Odisha for spawn. In 2010, he received spawn production training from IGKV, and it changed everything.

“With guidance from scientists, I started producing spawn at home using simple tools. They provided me with a 25-litre pressure cooker. I used a spirit lamp and basic media. I began making mother culture and spawns without expensive equipment like autoclaves or laminar airflow,” he says.

Despite this, he achieved 70 percent purity in spawns. “Due to higher quality spawns, the production per bed increased from 600 to 700 gm to nearly one kg. That was the turning point,” he says.

Scaling up with innovative, low-cost methods

By 2014 15, Rajendra was producing 20 kg of mushrooms per day, selling directly from home. His priority was always local consumers, offering them mushrooms at affordable rates. This helped build trust and expand demand.

Gradually, he increased production from March to October by carefully managing temperature (32–38°C) and humidity above 70 percent. He redesigned bed sizes and layouts to suit these conditions.

Instead of investing in costly sheds, he used nature itself. “I planted mango trees and placed mushroom beds under their shade on vertical stands. Each stand has three shelves,” says Rajendra, who received a national award in 2019 for best innovation in paddy straw mushroom farming.

“Even in peak summer months like May-June, the temperature under trees stays 10 degrees lower than open areas, ideal for mushroom growth. Humidity is also higher under tree shade because their dense canopies trap the water vapour released during transpiration, creating a humid microclimate,” Rajendra explains.

High oxygen levels under open, shaded conditions improved yield and reduced contamination, resulting in better-quality mushrooms, he adds.

Scale, earnings, and a zero-waste approach

Today, Rajendra has a capacity of 2,000 mushroom beds, and he grows them organically.

Each bed is prepared in a size of 1.5 ft × 1.5 ft × 1.5 ft.

He collects paddy straw from 150 to 200 acres of paddy fields, stores it on half an acre, and uses it as needed. This prevents the burning of stubble. The production cycle is 15 days, with harvest lasting from day 12 to day16.

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After harvesting, the used straw is not wasted. "It is converted into organic compost using waste decomposer and jeevamrut, and then applied to fields or shared with other farmers for free," Rajendra says.

Rajendra also produces four to five tonnes of spawn annually. "Half of it is sold to farmers trained by him at Rs 120 to 150 per kg, earning around Rs 1 lakh per year," the agripreneur says.

From November to March, he switches to oyster mushroom farming, producing 30 to 40 kg daily, sold at Rs 80 to 100 per kg, earning about Rs 4,000 per day with even lower input costs.

Bundle straw method of paddy straw mushroom production

Rajendra uses the bundle straw method, where paddy straw is tied into bundles with a circumference of about 1 foot and a length of 1.5 feet. These bundles are then placed in a water tank. Weight is kept on top of the bundles to prevent floating.

For every 100 litres of water, one litre of chuna (lime) is mixed thoroughly. The straw bundles are soaked in this limewater for 10 to 15 hours. This helps disinfect the straw and creates a suitable environment for mushrooms’ growth.

After soaking, the bundles are removed, excess water is drained, and the beds are prepared by layering straw with mushroom spawn.

A mixture of besan (gram flour), maize powder and wheat bran is used. These supplements are added in layers along with the spawn to improve yield. The prepared beds are covered with transparent polythene sheets and left undisturbed for about one week.

After that, the polythene is removed for one to two hours daily to allow air circulation, and then covered again. This process is repeated regularly. Water is sprayed as needed to maintain proper moisture levels. Paddy straw mushroom production begins by the 12th or 13th day after spawning, and harvesting continues till the 16th day.

Rajendra has also trained thousands of people in paddy straw cultivation, encouraging mushroom entrepreneurship in Chhattisgarh’s hinterland.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai- based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting).

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