Agartala: The Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Minister, Ratan Lal Nath, today informed that the department is working to make the state self-sufficient in mushroom by bringing it under organic cultivation.
The Minister informed this after inaugurating the first-ever training workshop on organic mushroom cultivation, which was held at the Horticulture Research Complex, Nagichhara, in the presence of 53 FPCs.
The Minister said that before 2018, there were only 4 FPCs in the state, but after 2018, the number increased to 49, totaling 53.
“Today, a workshop with them has started on mushroom cultivation. Mushroom is not only food but a superfood, having Vitamin D, iron, and many other nutrients. This is a good item. In Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, mushroom cultivation is the highest. Mushroom cultivation is a silent revolution. We are self-sufficient in milk, rice, fish, and egg, but we are not self-sufficient in mushroom, as we need more. This training is the first-ever training on organic mushroom cultivation. We have a total of 26,000 hectares where we cultivate organic crops with the help of FPCs, and we will also add mushroom to this organic cultivation,” said the Minister.
He informed that everyone must focus on four sectors—Agri-Allied, Tourism and Business, Forest, and Energy.
“Earlier, there was a misconception that there is no chance of onion cultivation here, but farmers have proved that Tripura can also produce onion. Last year, good cultivation of onion was done. Mushroom cultivation is bringing huge changes in the economy. We have also discussed the problems of FPCs. Till now, 56 MT rice, 579 MT ginger, 53 MT turmeric, 680 MT pineapple, and 4.5 MT bird’s eye chilli—all organic—have been exported to other foreign countries. Organic produce has huge demand. We are working on both organic and non-organic farming. Organic is very important for human beings. So, we are going to start mushroom cultivation in the organic process,” he added.
