Shillong, Mar 5 (PTI) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday inaugurated a Rs 15-crore Shiitake Mushroom and Training Centre in Upper Shillong.
The project is being funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of DoNER and the Meghalaya government.
Speaking on the occasion, Sangma said around 1,000 farmers will benefit from the mushroom centre.
He said Shiitake Mushrooms can be farmed in three cycles every year, with income generation of Rs 1 lakh per cycle.
“With a basic calculation, we can derive that in just three years our farmers will be able to earn revenue of around Rs 117 crore,” he said.
He encouraged the farmers to take up Shiitake Mushroom farming as it requires less space and basic maintenance.
He asserted that there is a market for Shiitake Mushroom and the state would be able to supply to the rest of the country.
Sangma said the government’s approach has always been to take every section of the society on board as the state moves forward.
“Development will be meaningless if different sections of the society cannot be a part of the growth story of Meghalaya,” he said.
He said that in the last three years, the state government has invested around 700 crore to create value chains and infrastructure for farmers so that their products are remunerative and economically attractive.
The mushroom project has been completed at the cost of Rs 15.15 crore and is being implemented in partnership with YATS Corporation Tokyo, a leading global producer of shiitake mushrooms.
As part of this initiative, market linkage through a buy-back mechanism has been put in place through Shillong Shiitake Products Company Ltd (SSPL), a joint venture between YATS Corporation and Hill Farmer’s Shiitake Mushroom Co-Op Society Ltd (HFSMC).
It may be mentioned that Rs 62.37 crore has been earmarked for Mushroom Mission for a period of five years. So far nearly 5,000 farmers have been benefited from the programme. PTI JOP ACD
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