Constrictions Encountered by Mushroom Farmers in Haryana: A Study of Sonipat District

Mushroom cultivation is one of the way of upgrading the income of the farmers other than field crops, which eventually increase human resource directly or indirectly and paves the way for self-sustaining business opportunities for unemployed and weaker sections of the society. This study was an attempt to get the response of the respondents related to production, finance, marketing and social constrictions faced by them in mushroom farming in Sonipat district of Haryana. From Sonipat, two blocks i.e. Sonipat and Ganaur were selected purposively and from each block four villages were selected randomly. Further, from each block, sixty respondents were selected randomly. Thus, total one hundred twenty respondents were selected. The structured schedule was developed for data collection. The Study revealed that ‘pests and diseases’ and ‘high perishability of produce’ was the most important production constriction responsible for low economic viability of mushroom production. Whereas, ‘Inadequate support from government’ and ‘difficulty of loan process’ were the major obstacles related to Finance. In case of marketing the constraints like ‘malpractices of middleman’, ‘lack of fixation of support prices’, ‘absence of regulated marketing channel’ and ‘price variation during season and off-season’ were observed by the mushroom farmers in the study area. Similarly, ‘lack of training facilities’ for mushroom cultivation was a major social constraint.

Mushroom cultivation is a low cost and eco-friendly venture.

Mushroom farming is indulged with various constrictions.

Constrictions related to production and marketing are of big concern.

Role of government organisations and extension agents is very important in mushroom farming.

Value addition in mushroom is recommended to increase the shelf-life of mushroom.