GIRL POWER Project
Mushroom Farming: Changing lives of rural women, girls TEAM GIRL POWER
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April 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in
omen make up about half of the world’s population, and they account for two-thirds of the world’s adult illiterates. Women empowerment can be achieved through the development of entrepreneurship and incomegenerating activities. Suitable enterprises will be able to generate better jobs and help them become economically independent. In the present era, mushroom cultivation is a profitable enterprise as the productivity of mushroom is higher than any other crop. The crop, apart from solving the malnutrition problem, will also pave the way of self-employment opportunity for the rural female population. One of the biggest advantages of mushroom farming is that it is a nutritional delicacy. Due to its productivity and profitability, its nutritional and medicinal value, mushroom cultivation is a profitable venture which can lead to integrated
development of rural areas by increasing the income of women beneficiaries. Mushroom farming will play a pivotal role in economic empowerment, particularly for landless or small women farmers, by providing them skill-oriented training, which in turn would raise the quality of living of rural families. Agriculture is the main pillar of the Indian economy. The nation has achieved food security but the struggle to achieve nutritional security is still on. In view of this, mushroom farming has been identified as a suitable and profitable venture. Mushroom crop is an ideal tool for converting agricultural waste into protein rich food items. The Girl Power Project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG) in Jharkhand, is playing a significant role as independent agents of change, implementing actions that bring transformative change into the lives of women and girls in 10 districts of Jharkhand. The major emphasis is on enhancing skills by providing training so that women can start their own entrepreneurial units using low-cost setup. Thus, an initiative was taken to train about 40 rural women beneficiaries in Madhupur Block of Deoghar District on cultivation of Mushroom and its value addition. The three days residential program was held from March 29 to 31 at Mega Skill Centre established by AIILSG. The training session was presided over by Sangeeta Nayak, a certified mushroom trainer. She addressed the beneficiaries and stated that mushroom farming is an important subsidiary occupation for small and landless farmers as well as women entrepreneurs. It is an indoor crop that can be cultivated by utilizing vertical space. To overcome the changes in lifestyle and prevalence of unhealthy food habits, the consumption of mushrooms is a powerful tool as it has an abundance of health benefits. She further briefed about its nature, types, nutritional values, origin, and cultivation practices. Mushroom is highly perishable in nature and is low-
