How to start your own mushroom growing company.
With rise in awareness about the healthbenefits of mushrooms, the demand for it has been in a rise. With plethora of opportunities in this emerging farming practise there is huge potential forhigher employability. 2021 hasn’t been any different. Being in the business for a decade now, we have seen many mushroom growing companies mushrooming around us. Here it what takes to start a mushroom business in 2022.
First things first: Planning phase
Planning involves the evaluation of the resources that are in your disposal. It involves cost to benefit analysis, small scale and large sale analysis, taking care of the climatic conditions,acquisition of subsidies under government schemes and most importantly, finding the potential market around you. Planning is the most important phase as better the plan is, the sturdier the launching pad of your business.
1.ROOM SETUP – What differentiates a small mushroom supply companies from a larger one is the size of the room setup. Room takes up the highest fixed cost as it needs to fit in various parameters. A grow room should be maintained at 25°C with high humidity. Floors should be made of non-porous and easy to clean materials like tiles.
Any scope of proliferation of any other fungi or microbe should be prevented as they might out-compete mycelium or white buttoned mushrooms. A set up of such a room takes up to 2-5 lakh rupees if done in a large scale. Small scale setup can take up To Rs 20-30K.
2.MAINTAINING THE ENVIRONMENT – There are geographically favourable areas of mushroom cultivation and there are places that are not. Farmers in highlands where temperature remains relatively low will economically benefit from mushroom production as they will not have to invest in Air conditioning. Though investing in humidifiers is a must for artificial setups and you cannot cut that cost. It can take up to 50-75K rupees for all of these.
3.MICELLENEOUS COSTS – Setting up shelves, fans for regulating the flow of fresh air and instruments like thermostats will take another 10-20K. So in total you may have to spend somewhere around 4-6 Lakh rupees for the initial setup of your farm and this excludes all the running or variable costs.
4.RECURRINGCOST:There is recurring cost every time you start the production. This includes money spent on substrate, spawning, casing and harvesting. You can learn about the process here
Cashing the mushroom: Selling them!
The most important question that arises in the mind of a commercial mushroom producer is the availability of enough selling opportunities. The best thing about white buttoned mushroom is its widespread use in restaurants and in households. They are the most consumed mushrooms among all the varieties. You can sell them online under your brand name, sell it to your nearby mandi and
even cold call restaurants who will eagerly accept your offer if you pitch them the right price.