After losing his small job due to the surge in Covid-19 pandemic, Saidur Rahman left Dhaka for his village home in Naogaon’s Manda in December without knowing how to keep earning in a rural area in this critical situation.
Saidur, 48, was depressed. But he found hope when his son, a school-goer living in the village with his mother and grandparents, showed him some Facebook shops selling mushroom spawns, saying it is a profitable business with a small investment.
He learnt about the health benefits of this superfood, that it is a very crucial input mainly for the people with diabetes and obesity.
He later ordered 8kg spawn of oyster mushrooms from an online shop based in Dhaka’s Atibazar and received it via courier.
Advised by the seller, he then turned the 72 sq-ft rooftop room of his house into a mushroom farm, which drew attention of the people living nearby as they never consumed these mushrooms.
After the first harvest, several families bought some mushrooms as an experiment and the rest were sold in the local market of Kalikapur for Tk7,000. After calculating costs, he found that his profit was Tk3,500. He sold the mushrooms at Tk250-280 per kg.
But later on Saidur faced hurdles selling the mushroom; he could not sell all the mushrooms this time.
To make mushrooms popular among the common people, Saidur planned to launch an awareness campaign in the area. He prepared a leaflet and distributed them while canvassing with a loudspeaker and selling the mushroom in 250gm and 500gm packets.
“Many people, including some diabetes patients, have started buying my mushrooms after I started the campaigns,” he said while talking to Dhaka Tribune recently.
“But making this business sustainable is the biggest challenge. It is not hard to grow them, but the fresh mushrooms become non-edible quickly,” he added.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Manda Upazila Agriculture Officer Shaila Sharmin said that she had visited Saidur’s mushroom farm at Dahapara village and lauded his initiative.
