By Our Correspondent, Fidim, Apr. 7: Sarada Thapa, a resident of Gadhi, Phidim Municipality-4, Panchthar district, cultivates mushroom to make a living. He learnt that knowhow watching videos on Youtube, an online video-sharing platform, four years ago. 

She has been making up to Rs. 700,000 annually from the business.

She said: ‘I did a lot of research on YouTube videos teaching how to cultivate mushrooms. Now, I have become proficient at cultivating it.”

Sharing her knowledge on the skill, she said: “Soak undecomposed hay in clean cold water for 24 hours before boiling it for one-and-a-half hours. Then place the mushroom seeds at four-inch gaps and put the hay in a plastic bag. Hay packs should be kept in a clean, lightproof room or a mushroom house. Watering the plant time and again as required, the seed start giving yields after a month.”

She has been growing mushroom in three rooms of her house. She cultivates 700 bags of mushroom for nine months, from August to April. At present, she is selling her produce at Rs. 300 per kg.

One pack produces up to three kg mushroom at three-month interval. So, mushrooms produced from 700 bags weighing 2,100 kg sells for Rs. 700,000 a year.

Assisting Sarada in her venture is Fidim Municipality, who is providing 50 per cent grant of the total cost. “When renting out a room, I would earn only Rs. 5,000 a month, while cultivating mushrooms in the same room earns me Rs. 40,000 per month,” she said.

Now, she is planning to cultivate mushroom in other rooms as well. Impressed by Sarada's exemplary work, her neighbors have also started cultivating mushroom.