A farmer with his produce of mushroom at his house in Anantpur. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Chandi (Nalanda), Feb. 8: All good work should originate from home and no one other than chief minister Nitish Kumar could have proved it right.

In a bid to provide livelihood to hundreds of poor farmers, the home district of Nitish Kumar, Nalanda, has undergone a major industrial revamp with the mushroom-growing small industries flourishing at a rapid speed.

A few years back, landless farmers struggled to make both ends meet, but the scenario has undergone a sea change. Mushroom farming in the district, an initiative taken up by Nitish, has given women farmers a source of income and a sense of hope.

Renu Kumari of Anantpur village, who has taken up mushroom farming, earns Rs 8,000 a month. She was a daily-wage labourer but today she is not only a successful farmer but also a motivator for hundreds of other women farmers, who have now taken up the trade for a better living.

Renu was initially taught the skills needed for mushroom farming under a programme conducted by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (Atma).

She said: “After a visit to Ranchi, I came to know about mushroom farming during a workshop. My interest grew since then. In my village, I registered myself with Atma and took training for growing mushrooms. I invested a small amount of money and started growing mushrooms in my house. After a few days I was selling mushrooms at Rs 70 per kg.”

She added: “Today there are more than 300 women involved in this business after I motivated them to take this up. I never imagined that mushrooms can bring money and today many women are self dependent in this village”.

On visiting the house of Rinku Kumari, a villager, The Telegraph caught a glimpse of how the trade has mushroomed within a few years. One of the rooms of Rinku’s house was filled with mushrooms. Rinku said: “I am making good money from mushroom farming and I have decided to grow this crop throughout the year. We will request the state government to provide us with a bigger platform to sell our products. Now, we sell mushrooms in nearby towns but there is a lot of opportunity in cities like Patna.”

Nalanda district magistrate Sanjay Agarwal has taken a few steps to market the product at the district-level. After his initiative, mushrooms will be served as sabzi in Navodaya Vidyalayas, Sainik schools, middle schools, jails and hospitals at least once a week.

He said talks are on to sell mushrooms at Sudha Dairy stalls to help farmers get a fair deal for their products.