By Our Correspondent
Damauli, Jan. 16: Makhan Gurung of Byas Municipality-14, who was in foreign employment until a few years ago and travelled to Iraq, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in search of jobs, is now finding his good time in mushroom farming in his hometown.
"I spent many years working abroad," he said, "but I didn't earn as much as I am currently earning at home."
He has been cultivating mushrooms in Sondhe of Byas Municipality-13 with his friend Tak Bahadur Gurung.
Tak joined Makhan in mushroom farming some four years ago. Apart from this, Makhan has also been cultivating avocado and vegetables in three ropanies of land near his house.
The Gurung-duo have been cultivating mushroom in a rented plot near Buddhasingh Marg in Sondhe.
Tak Bahadur said that they were earning enough from the Japanese Blue Cap and American Blue Cap mushrooms produced in five tunnels.
He said that it would cost Rs. 90,000 to build a tunnel to produce mushrooms while earning crosses Rs. 150,000 from it. He said that the profit from five tunnels will be around Rs. 300,000 at a time.
According to Tak, they grow mushroom from mid-September to mid-April as the tunnel gets damaged by the rain and insects during the rainy season.
He said that they cultivate paddy, maize, millet and vegetables from April to September in the same land.
Hay, raw materials for the mushrooms, is brought from Siraha district. They cook it, cut it into packs and hang it on a pole inside the tunnel.
Tak said that mushrooms can be sold every 15 days throughout the season. He informed that the produced mushrooms have been supplied to the district headquarters Damauli and sold in bulk at Rs. 160 per kg.
Makhan said that he had given up the idea of going abroad as he can earn better at home than abroad.
He suggested other youths who are thinking of going abroad for employment to give a try to entrepreneurship and business and start commercial farming and animal husbandry.
He said that they had received no training for mushroom and vegetable cultivation so far and learned from their practice. Byas Municipality has given them 50 per cent subsidy on seeds.