We at Don Bosco Tech Society, Sambalpur Center arranged the 1st Guest lecturer of Batch-8 under Accenture-12 for Mushroom Grower job role on January 19, 2023. The designated topic for the above-mentioned session was “Production of various types of mushrooms and marketing opportunities”. The guest lecture started with a welcome song by trainees followed by welcome address by the domain trainer Mr. Dillip Kumar Behera. He introduced and welcomed Ms. Serophina Oram from Indian Mushroom Farm to deliver the lecture.

Ms. Serophina discussed in detail on various types of mushrooms to be grown in different seasons in a year. She gave a detailed account of different factors that might affect mushroom cultivation. She enlightened trainees by pointing out the advantages of Paddy straw mushrooms and deliberated on the production cost analysis in the context of starting an enterprise of mushroom cultivation. Mushroom has been widely used as an important ingredient in many preparations like used in soup, pickles, vegetables etc. It is also used for stuffing in several food preparations and for garnishing.

Mushroom being an indoor crop provides vast opportunities for empowering rural and urban women through cultivation, production of value-added products and marketing. It also provides vast opportunities for unemployed youths to take up mushroom cultivation and marketing she added. Day by day there is continuous increase in the demand of mushroom which denotes that there is huge market potential in near future. She has advised the trainees to cultivate mushroom as business purpose and not to miss this opportunity for learning.

Throughout the session, trainees interacted with keen interest and raised specific questions and she said Mushroom cultivation along with spawn production is a profitable business but it requires practical knowledge and technical skills. Now a days due to unemployment and wide spread of this technology through mass media and easy method of cultivation process, young mass are attracted towards it. Trainees were very enthusiastic and energetic throughout the session. She was very amazed by the participation and interest showed by the participants in the program.

Ms. Serophina 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 Ms Serophina by Mr. Sarat Chandra Dash in appreciation for taking the time out to educate the trainees.