Tag: Oyster Mushroom

Mota Ram Sharma

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A Farmer Who Treated Chronic Cancer-Like Illness With Mushrooms

All farmers do farming, but the farmer whose story we are going to share with you is different from others. Hardly any farmer would have thought about treating patients along with farming. And Mota Ram Sharma is one such farmer who became a doctor because of mushroom cultivation.

Mota Ram Sharma, famously known as Mushroom Man, used to do mushroom cultivation in his 5 Bigha land along with dairy farming almost 24 years ago. Mushroom farming was not in trend in Rajasthan at that time. He started growing oyster mushrooms in the beginning. Most of the farmers only knew about button mushrooms at that time. So, Mota Ram prepared powder out of mushrooms and started feeding the cattle, as he was unable to market the large quantity of oyster mushrooms he had grown. After feeding on this powder, incurable disease like Mastitis in cows was even cured. Mota Ram started growing oyster mushrooms on a large scale after this achievement. When agriculture authorities came to know about this, they advised him to take training. He went to Solan and Jaipur to take the training. And after acquiring all the skills and information, he started growing button and shiitake mushrooms. He started selling button mushrooms in Delhi Mandi, from which he started earning well. Presently, he is doing mushroom farming without using an air conditioner.

As the time passed, I came to know on the basis of my discovery that we can also use mushrooms to prevent many different diseases. There are many varieties of mushrooms that are nothing short of lifesaving panacea for humans. – Mota Ram Sharma

While farming mushrooms, Mota Ram also started preparing mushroom seeds and now he is farming 16 different varieties of mushrooms.

In 2010, he became the first farmer to grow Ganoderma Mushroom in India, due to which he received the Mushroom King of India Award. He uses this ganoderma mushroom variety to make cancer medicines.
“We treat heart and cancer patients with medicines prepared by us. So far we have achieved success in 90% of the cases.” – Mota Ram Sharma

Many people are surprised due to this inspiring feat of Mota Ram Sharma, who has passed only fifth class and has no college degree. During the time of his discovery, he came to know that the cause of cancer in humans is due to deficiency of Vitamin B-17 in the body and this vitamin is present in the Ganoderma mushroom. Presently, he is making different medicines from mushrooms, from which he is treating cancer patients.

Around his farm, he has planted Ashoka trees, Aloe Vera, Asparagus and Giloy plants, which he uses to make medicines.

Both the sons of Mota Ram Sharma are doctors, but now they also do mushroom farming with their father.

Mr. Sharma grows 16 different exotic varieties of mushrooms, whose names are as follows:
  • Ganoderma Mushroom
  • Reishi Mushroom
  • Pink Mushroom
  • Sajar Kaju Mushroom
  • Kabul Anjai
  • Black Ear Mushroom
  • Button Mushroom
  • Oyster Mushroom
  • Dhingri Mushroom
  • DJ Moore Mushroom
  • Citro Mushroom
  • Shiitake Mushroom
  • Sagar Kaju Sarikhi Mushroom
  • Paneer Mushroom
  • Florida Mushroom
  • Codechef Mushroom

Mota Ram Sharma has received many awards because of his efforts and discoveries made in the field of mushroom farming, which are as follows:

  • Best Mushroom Farmer Award (2010)
  • Krishi Ratna (2010)
  • Krishi Samrat (2011)
  • Mushroom King Award Of India (2018)
  • Member Of Rashtriya Mushroom Board
  • Many farmers visit Mr. Sharma’s farm for mushroom farming training
Future Plans

In the coming future, Mota Ram wants to help farmers and solve their problems with his experience and do more innovations in the field of mushroom farming.

Message
“Farmers should take advice from experts to solve their difficulties faced in the field of agriculture and should look forward to making new discoveries in every field.”

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa

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How this 60-Year-Old Woman Established the Foundation of a Mushroom Farming Business in Amritsar and Her Sons made it Successful

Where people in Punjab are still stuck in the cycle of conventional farming, there are some farmers who are breaking this cycle and are bringing innovative farming trends which are helping in saving the nature’s essential resource like water.

This is a story of a family’s effort! Randhawa Family is from the holy city of Punjab- Amritsar, which is known for its amazing cuisine, culture and serene Golden Temple surrounded by Amrit Sarovar (holy water pond). This family is not only bringing revolution in mushroom farming but also encouraging other farmers toward modern and profitable farming trends.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa is the famous mushroom lady of Amritsar. She started mushroom cultivation just as a side work or we can say it was her hobby, but who knew that Mrs. Harjinder’s hobby will be transformed into a successful business by her sons in the coming future.

So how it get started…
As being the wife of Rajinder Singh Randhawa who was serving in Punjab Police in eighties-nineties, there was no shortage in the house that would have made Mrs. Harjinder Kaur insecure to look for an alternate money earning source.

How a housewife’s interest laid the foundation for the family’s future…
But in 1989, Harjinder Kaur thought of doing something different and utilize her free time in an efficient manner, so she started mushroom cultivation in the veranda of her house. She had no training before starting mushroom cultivation, but her dedication brings the true colors to her work. Slowly she expanded her mushroom cultivation work and started making processed food items of mushroom.

When the sons became the mother’s support….
When her sons grew up and were done with their studies, then three (Manjeet, Mandeep and Harpreet) out of four sons decided of helping their mother and become helping hand in the mushroom farming business. All the three sons especially went to Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan for training. From there they learn about growing different varieties of mushroom like button, milky, and oyster. They also attended other vocational training given by Punjab Agriculture University on Mushroom Farming. While the third son (Jagdeep Singh) was more interested towards farming other crops and later on he went to Australia and started sugarcane and banana farming.

As time passed, Harjinder Kaur’s sons keep on expanding the mushroom farming work and they also started preparing processed mushroom products like Pickles, Papad, Powder, Vadiyaan, Namkeen and Biscuit for commercial purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Rajinder Singh Randhawa also joined the mushroom farming business along with other family members after retirement.

Today Randhawa family is a successful mushroom producer and mushroom products, manufacturers. From seed preparation to marketing, the family members do everything themselves. After Harjinder Kaur, the other member who took the business more seriously and worked towards expanding is Mandeep Singh (2nd son) he especially manages all the manufacturing and marketing part. Mainly he functions through their shop (Randhawa Mushroom Farm) which is situated at Batala-Jalandhar Road.

The other two son (Manjeet Singh & Harpreet Singh) also plays a very important role in running the Randhawa Mushroom Farm, they manage the mushroom farming, harvesting and other work related to the business.

Although the sons of the family are now managing all the work, still Harjinder Kaur participates very actively and personally visit the farming and manufacturing location and guide the other people working on it. She is the main person who takes cares of the hygiene and quality of the product manufactured by them.

How Harjinder Kaur wants to see her third generation in the coming future…

“I want my third generation (grandchildren) should also be the part of our business. Some of them who are  big enough to understand what is going on, has already started showing interest in the mushroom cultivation business. We are also planning to send our grandson (SO- Manjeet Singh, currently studying in 10th) to go for higher studies in mushroom research and do Ph.D. in it.”

Setting mark in the market…
Randhawa Mushroom Farm has already marked their presence on a large scale in the market with their quality produce. Currently, 70% of the produce (fresh mushrooms and processed mushroom food items) are sold through their shop and the rest of the 30% are sent to vegetable markets of nearby big cities like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Batala, and Gurdaspur.

As they are growing three varieties of mushroom Milky, Button and oyster so the revenue is pretty good. On all the three variety the investment is less and income is between Rs 70 to 80 per kg (raw mushrooms). Button mushroom crops take 20 to 50 days to get ready for harvesting, whereas Oyster (Nov-April) and Milky (May-Oct) takes 6 months to get ready for harvesting. Due to their crops readying and harvesting time their business is never out of season.

Randhawa Family…
The whole family including daughter-in-laws are very much involved in the business and they prepare all the products themselves at home. The second son – Mandeep Singh is serving one more profession other than handling the marketing department of their family business, he is working as a reporter in Jagbani Newspaper since 2007 and covers the Amritsar district. Sometimes in his absence, Mr Rajinder Singh Randhawa takes care of the shop.

Nowadays, the government and agriculture department is encouraging farmers towards farming crop that requires less water, and mushroom is one of those crops which doesn’t need water is the huge quantity for irrigation. So by seeing their effort in the mushroom cultivation, Randhawa family has been awarded district level award two times and tehsil level awards many times in events and fairs. Recently (10th September 2017) Randhawa family efforts have also been appreciated nationwide by Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan, where they were awarded National Award.


MESSAGE FOR FARMERS

Randhawa family believes in being together and their message is the most unique and inspirational message for farmers.

 “The family which stays together achieves success very easily. Nowadays farmer should understand the power of unity and instead of dividing their land and property among the family members they should live and work in unity. One more thing that farmer should start is self-marketing because it is the easiest way to earn confidence and earn the right price of your harvest.

 

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