Mushroom in livelihood system of rural women

Abstract

This study was conducted in Khurda district of Odisha. Seventy-five farm women were purposefully selected who were exposed with training and demonstration on mushroom cultivation. The data were collected with the help of structured schedule developed on the basis of objectives. The collected data were statistically processed. The study reveals that the most important promoting factor for mushroom enterprise is simple technology, which farmwomen can handle very easily. The impact assessment of mushroom enterprise on growers indicates the improvement in their occupation (53.33%) followed by ‘standard of living’ (36.00%), ‘saving’ (30.00%), employment generation (26.66%) and ‘knowledge and attitude’ (24%). The farmwomen faced much constraint in ‘non-availability of spawn in locality’ and least problem in ‘mushroom treated as non-veg item’. Sixty percent of the respondents stated that “supply of quality spawnâ€, ‘thorough coverage of marketing aspects’ and ‘insurance’ are the three major constraints for successful mushroom entrepreneurship.