Berhampur: Agricultural scientists have come to the rescue of mushroom farmers of Ganjam district.
Nihar Ranjan Sahu and Umashankar Palo, Reader, College of Agriculture Engineering and Technology under OUAT and Prasant Kumar Muni, Chairman Maruti Foods Training Center, Berhampur have initiated steps to prepare traditional food out of dried and powdered mushrooms.
The off-season use of mushroom can be achieved by adopting appropriate post-harvest technology to process mushrooms into novel value-added products. The production of value-added products will be a turning point for mushroom growers to not only reduce losses but also to enhance their income by value-addition, said the agricultural scientists.
We can make various products like soup powder, papad, nuggets, chips, candy etc using different mushrooms and products like pasta, noodles, etc by supplementing with fresh or dried mushroom powder, they said.
Papad is one of the most popular Indian snacks consumed either after deep-frying or roasting and it is one such snack where the mushroom powder can be added. Mushrooms are considered to be a healthy diet because they are low in calories, sodium, fat and cholesterol, they said.
Ganjam is the second-highest mushroom producing district in Odisha after Puri. Around 400 growers produce about eight tons of mushrooms every day. The sector provides employment to over 4,000 youth directly or indirectly. Mushroom farming can continue for at least 10 months in a year. When COVID lockdown prevented outdoor activities last year, the farming of paddy straw mushrooms gained popularity in Ganjam district.
