Odisha farmer builds low-cost mushroom unit; clocks Rs 2 lakh monthly

On most winter mornings, Manas Ranjan Das can be found inside his small mushroom farm in Odisha’s Cuttack district, inspecting rows of polybags hanging from bamboo frames. Tiny oyster mushrooms emerging through circular holes indicate they will be ready for harvest soon.

Manas has Ankylosing Spondylitis, which restricts his neck movement. However, it has not deterred his entrepreneurial spirit. Overcoming the odds, he has transformed mushroom cultivation into a sustainable agribusiness by combining low-cost innovation with value-added strategies and market timing.

He has built the mushroom unit using 250 bamboo stalks, each costing Rs 180 (total Rs 45,000). Manas uses waste cotton to prepare mushroom spawns to reduce costs.

“I grow paddy straw mushrooms between March and October and oyster mushrooms from November till February. The setup yields 70 to 80 kg of oyster mushrooms every month, which I sell at Rs 90 to Rs 100 per kg. The production of paddy straw mushrooms is 30 kg daily,” Manas tells 30Stades.

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He converts unsold oyster mushrooms into powder, which has a shelf life of nearly one year, compared to just 72 hours for fresh ones. “Mushroom powder sells for Rs1000 a kg and is very profitable,” he adds.

Manas clocks an average monthly turnover of about Rs 2 lakh from the sale of paddy straw mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.

Cutting costs and maximising revenues

“Most oyster mushroom farmers use wheat grains as the key raw material for making mushroom seeds (spawns). They cost Rs 35 to Rs 36 per kg. To grow oysters with less investment, I use waste cotton procured from West Bengal at Rs 19 per kg,” Manas says.

With its high cellulose content and nutrient richness, cotton supports fast mycelial growth while cutting costs by almost half, he adds.

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“I built the structure with bambaoo stalks as they are low-cost, eco-friendly, and easily available. Using iron or steel racks would have increased costs by at least six to seven times. Instead of rooms, I grow mushrooms in shade nets, which keep costs low,” he adds.

Green shade nets are much less expensive than constructing a permanent structure. “This drastically reduces the initial capital investment required to start a mushroom farm,” Manas says.

He adds that value addition plays a crucial role in maximising revenues. Ahead of the seven-day annual Bali Yatra fair in Cuttack, held around Kartika Purnima (November–December), Manas and his wife, Ritanjali, prepare oyster mushroom pickles, cookies, and powder.

“We prepare them 15 to 20 days before the Bali Yatra. I sell 200 grams of pickles at Rs 90, 200 grams of cookies at Rs 60, and 100 grams of powder at Rs 100. These products see bumper sales at the fair, generating income of up to Rs1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in just a few days,” he says.

How mushroom farming is done

Manas grows paddy straw mushrooms in 3,500 sq ft (from March to October) and cultivates oyster mushrooms in 2,000 sq ft (part of the 3,500 sq ft area) between November and February.

To grow oyster mushrooms, he first cuts paddy straw into two to three-inch pieces. These are soaked in water for 16 to 18 hours, drained thoroughly, and then treated with slow steam for six hours. After drying in mild sunlight, the straw is layered inside polybags along with a mix of waste cotton and oyster spawn. “Four such layers are prepared in each bag,” he says.

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The bags are tied and kept in a dark room for 18 days, followed by another three days inside the farm. Circular holes are then made to allow air and soft sunlight, and water is sprayed regularly. After another 25 days, oyster mushrooms begin sprouting through the openings.

At the farm, five such bags are hung using a bamboo stalk, arranged in 20 rows that cover nearly 2,000 sq ft. “The oysters are harvested and sold fresh locally. The unsold are dried and powdered,” he says.

Paddy straw mushrooms have a shorter crop cycle of 16-17 days, and each bag yields at least a kg of mushrooms, which sell at Rs 250 to Rs 300 per kg, Manas says.

He employs two permanent workers and hires five to six temporary workers during peak periods, paying them Rs 400 per day.

The struggles before success

The journey to this point was marked by years of struggle. After graduating in 2000 from Laxminarayan Sahoo Mahavidyalaya in Jagatpur, Manas worked briefly as a salesman in a mobile phone shop for Rs.600 a month.

After various other stints, he joined Sai Krupa College in Dhenkanal in 2016, earning Rs.10,000 per month. During his tenure there, Manas met four successful mushroom farmers from Mukatapasi village in Dhenkanal district. Inspired, he decided to follow their path.

In 2017, despite being a novice, Manas began mushroom farming on a trial basis. He prepared 300 beds over 2,000 sq ft. He purchased spawn bottles, 200 grams each, from Ichhapur in Athgarh block at Rs 14 per bottle, including transport costs, and 12,000 straw bundles at Rs 4.50 each.

“The first attempt failed, yielding just 250 gm of mushrooms, which I sold for Rs 15,” the agripreneur says.

Undeterred, Manas restarted in late 2018 with an investment of Rs.1.42 lakh, arranged as a loan by his wife, Ritanjali, from the SHG Vaishnav Devi Mahila Mission Shakti in Jagatpur.

Ritanjali says she got the loan at an interest rate of three percent. “We cleared the loan in one and a half years,” adds Ritanjali.

The journey

Manas had his first major breakthrough in 2020–21, after a seven-day training on Protected Cultivation Structure of High-Value Vegetable Crops in 2018–19 under the National Horticulture Mission. The training was conducted by experts from the Bhubaneswar-based Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension (IMAGE) at the Cuttack Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). This gave him the idea to use shade nets for mushroom farming.

He later completed a one-month training at KVK on spawn selection, treatment, and value addition, including the preparation of cookies, pickles, and powder.

“I learnt the techniques from the internet, which were further refined by the training imparted by IMAGE and KVK,” says Manas, who was conferred the title of Innovative Farmer in 2022 by the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack.

Manas has also trained more than 200 self-help groups across Tangi, Choudwar, Jagatpur, and nearby areas without charging any fee.

As a consultant, he has guided over 15 new mushroom farmers, earning an honorarium of up to Rs.5,000 per assignment.

One such beneficiary, Pupun Kumar Das of Choudwar, received nearly 10 days of consultancy in 2023. He now operates a 400-bed setup, where 40 beds yield over 27 kg of straw mushrooms daily, sold at Rs 300 per kg.

“Daily production sometimes reaches up to 35 kg under the right temperature. The ideal temperature for spawn run is 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, while 28 to 32 degrees Celsius helps achieve heavy fruiting in my 2.5 gunths,” says Pupun, who credits Manas for his success.

(Niroj Ranjan Misra is a Cuttack-based freelance writer. He writes on rural and tribal life, social issues, art and culture, and sports.)

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