Our Correspondent
Tezpur: The mushroom task group comprising of Ashok Naglot, scientist, Vijay Pal, technical officer and Nipu Jyoti Kalita, technician of Defense Research Laboratory, DRDO, Tezpur conducted a three-day skill development programme on mushroom farming and spawn production technology with the aim to groom youths, women and young entrepreneurs of Northeast India in the identified technologies so that they become self-reliant and boost the economy of this region.
DRL, DRDO has identified mushroom farming technology as the potential source of income generation for unemployed youths and women of this region because it is low cost technology requiring little inputs in terms of investment but maximum output in terms of profitability. The introduction of spawn production technology in the course was another breakthrough because mushroom farming technology cannot be popularized among the growers until and unless quality and continuous supply of mushroom spawn/seeds is maintained in the region, which at present is lacking in the region.
Total 30 participants from Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam registered for this training programme. Lectures were delivered on different topics. The cultivation technology and spawn production technology were also demonstrated practically involving the participants in situ.
Attending the programme, Dr Sanjai K Dwivedi, Director, DRL, Tezpur told the participants to adopt mushroom farming in groups in order to produce substantial amount of mushroom to attract consumers and for better marketing. Similarly, he said that to maintain the chain of mushroom seeds/spawn in the region, few young educated youths should work in group to produce spawn.
As spawn production technology requires technical skill and equipments, the Director, DRL announced that potential participants could use DRL, Tezpur and DRL R&D centre, Salari (Arunachal Pradesh) as incubation centre for at least one year. This initiative will help the unemployed youths, women and young entrepreneurs to develop their skills in the field and become capable enough to create their own infrastructure in the near future. The initiative was lauded by all the participants.
The coordinator of the programme Ashok Naglot, Scientist 'E', emphasized better coordination among the growers and cooperative type system to be followed for better prospects. In addition, the coordinator, on behalf of the Director, DRL, committed full technical support to the growers as well as youths planning to start spawn producing unit in this region. The participants were highly motivated during the training programme and as a result the participants created aWhatsapp group in the name of 'North East Mushroom growers'.
The whole training programme was a step towards making youths/women to make them self-reliant and to popularize mushroom farming in the north east region as livelihood source.