CONSTRAINTS EXPERIENCED BY MUSHROOM GROWERS IN ADOPTING IMPROVED MUSHROOM PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN PUSA, BIHAR

Abstract

 Mushrooms (vegetarian meat/vegetable beef stick) is becoming fast popular because of its 
short time period between cultivation and harvesting; less initial investment and can be grown with 
locally available resources. Though more technology is available for boosting mushroom production, the 
yield so far achieved is not high.  Hence, an attempt is made to find out the constraints faced by 
mushroom growers in adoption of improved mushroom production practices. Samastipur district of Bihar 
was purposively selected for the study because, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, a 
pioneer in mushroom production technology is located in the study area. 120 respondents from six 
villages of Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar forms the respondents of the present study. Primary data was 
collected from the mushroom growers and the responses were subjected to statistical analysis. The results 
indicated that unavailability of quality spawn, unavailability of skilled labor, absence of technical 
guidance, high transport cost, unavailability of storage facilities, high cost of spawn and long distance 
market were the most problematic constraints faced by the mushroom growers. Thus, it can be concluded 
that adequate extension service should be made available to make mushroom cultivation popular, market 
and marketing of the products.