KOCHI: The ‘Choornikkara Mushroom’ brand is literally a story of new life and growth; a sign of the resurgence of farmers in this panchayat, situated north of the city, following the devastating floods that hit the state.
While the Choornikkara Krishi Bhavan undertook 20 of the 50 units allotted to Ernakulam district as part of a programme implemented by the State Horticulture Mission, the August floods threw the plans off-kilter with 16 of Choornikkara’s 20 wards being submerged.
This forced the authorities concerned to cut down the number of units to 11. Ten women and one male farmer came forward to set them up, doing the cultivation in their houses. The farmers received training and raw materials from the Krishi Bhavan and the Kerala Agriculture University supplied seeds for the
Pleurotus Florida and Oyster mushroom varieties which are mainly cultivated in the 100 beds in each unit; 1,100 in all. The mushrooms are mainly white and pink in colour.
“While we aimed to produce at least 10 kg of mushroom every day, we ended up producing double this amount at the units,” said Choornikkara panchayat president A P Udhayakumar.Encouraged by the bumper produce, panchayat authorities considered marketing it, but the farmers were apprehensive about being able to keep up a constant supply to wholesalers as the production is dependent on climatic conditions. Together they then decided to market the product on their own under the brand name, Choornikkara Mushroom.
The sales take place at the community hall in Choornikkara on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am. At present, the mushroom is available in eye-catching packets of 200 gm priced at Rs 65 that come with printed recipes.
The farmers said the mushrooms are always sold out within a few hours. Agriculture officer John Sherry explains why: the Choornikkara Mushroom is organic and of superior quality.Encouraged by the response, the farmers are planning to increase the number of beds.