Impact assessment of vocational training programmes on mushroom cultivation on knowledge gain and adoption of the rural youth

Mushroom cultivation is a novel component of agriculture that can be easily integrated in the farming system to enhance the income of the farmers or can even be taken up as an independent activity on commercial scale. The present study was aimed at investigating the change in economic status/profile of rural youth entrepreneurs after entering in mushroom cultivation. Total 120 trainees were imparted training on mushroom cultivation by conducting four vocational training courses at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kaithal, Haryana. The knowledge level of farm/rural youth was improved by attending training programmes on quality spawn production in village conditions, specific method of mushroom bag preparation, harvesting techniques, grading and packaging of mushrooms in small pouches, preservation techniques and value addition by preparing products from oyster mushroom.