The residents of the village of Radhamohanpur have turned their lives around, using the cultivation of mushrooms to generate their livelihood and improve their standard of living. Earlier, the village was famous for its betel vines as people depended on betel farming and export, to the nearby villages of Uttar Pradesh, for their living. The super cyclone devastated their livelihood and they began migrating outside for work. They started mushroom cultivation under the guidance of P.K. Patnaik, a retired government officer, who took to mushroom cultivation in 2005. The women of the Ma Kalua Self-Help Group have also begun preparations to make pickles using oyster mushrooms and sell them in the local markets and district-level fair organised by ORMAS. The Youth have also taken a keen interest in mushroom farming and got in touch with the Mushroom research unit of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) to learn the science between mushroom farming. With the help of the scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Berhampur they learnt cost-effective ways of production and increased productivity. The net value of mushrooms is about 2 crore every year and according to the villagers, it has helped them increase their income and become self-employed with a largely self-sustained village economy.
Radhamohanpur adopt Mushroom Cultivation, Preventing Migration
