Training on Mushroom Cultivation Technique and support to farmers of Rasuwa

Among the different high value crops, mushroom (commonly known as Chyau) is newly emerging crop becoming most popular at now. Commercial mushroom farming in Nepal has already been proven to be a very rewarding source of income. Mushroom is a kind of a fungus that has been cultivated mainly for its edible properties. The mushroom cultivation in Nepal has been found increasing in the recent years mainly due to wide spread awareness of its nutritional properties. There is a good scope of mushroom cultivation among the small holder farmers because mushroom farming requiring limited land can one of the good option for the alternative source of income to these farmers. For this, it requires the sound knowledge on its farming technique. For the capacity building of resource poor farmers in mushroom farming so as to increase the economic status of small holder farmers of Naukunda Rural Municipality, Rasuwa, a five days training on mushroom cultivation technique was carried out from 16th to 20th January, 2021 for 13 active farmers of the locality. The farmers were delivered with the sound technical knowledge with full practice and demonstration on each of the steps by a qualified trainer Mr. Rabi Ghale. They were trained for material preparation for mushroom spawning, sterilization of the media, method of spawning, shed construction and its management, harvesting and storage, pest management and so on. Besides the training, these farmers were supported with necessary tools and materials, mushroom spawns for oyster mushroom cultivation. The training was participatory and farmers were interested in the content of the training. Farmers are starting mushroom farming after the training.