A guest lecturer session for Mushroom Grower job role was successfully organized at Don Bosco Tech Sambalpur Center on “production of mushroom and demand in market” on June 16, 2022 for the student of batch – 2 of Accenture - 12. Mr. Shanti Prakash Pradhan of A.B. Mushroom farm was invited as the Guest Lecturer. He was very particular on regional climates and conditions for mushroom growing. He also stressed on government support, challenges and opportunities for this sector.

The guest lecture began with welcome address by the domain trainer Mr. Dillip Kumar Behera. He has introduced and welcomed Mr. Shanti Prakash Pradhan to deliver the lecture.

Mr. Pradhan briefed the trainees on different aspect of mushroom growing. He expanded his session by explaining various stages of mushroom cultivation such as Preparation of spawn, Substrate preparation, Spawning of substrate, Incubation, Fruiting and harvesting. He enlightens trainees by giving the advantages of Paddy straw mushroom by explaining the production cost for starting the cultivation as a small farm of mushroom at home. He said mushrooms are vital food in a vegetarian dominated country like India and moreover to overcome malnutrition and to tackle over food insecurity. He also emphasized the trainees about the importance of self employment and its value addition to a family in terms of livelihood.

In the later part of the session, students interacted in the session with keen interest and raised questions about how to make career in the field of cultivation of mushroom. Mr. Pradhan also gave few tips on how to prevent the spillage during the process of production. Students were very enthusiastic and energetic throughout the session. Mr. Pradhan was very amazed by the participation and interest shown by the participants in the program.

Mr. Pradhan summed up the session by answering queries and deliberating on the enormous scope for self-employment leading to a decent livelihood for a mushroom grower. The session ended with a hearty thanks to Mr. Pradhan by support domain trainer Mr. Sarada Prasad Nanda in appreciation for taking the time out to educate the students.