Participants take notes on mushroom farming in Hazaribagh on Sunday. Picture by Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Lay down axes and bows, pick up the tricks of mushroom farming. That’s the newest buzz for villagers surrounding Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary.

Human-animal conflict is a cause of worry as rampant poaching has led to dwindling numbers of wildlife. Besides, the need for firewood has led to the depleting forest cover. To combat this, Jharkhand’s biodiversity board has selected the sanctuary for a livelihood promotion scheme, the first of its kind in the state.

Under this programme devised by the India-UNDP biodiversity project, a local NGO Neo Human Foundation, is training villagers to develop green thumbs and cultivate mushrooms.

Speaking on this unique programme, NGO president Satya Prakash said: “Twenty participants, including five women, from Lotwa, Sijhuwa and Kaile villages are being taught to grow and sell mushrooms to earn their livelihood. The training started on September 9 at a hostel in Sijhuwa in Ichak.”

According to him, their objective is to give villagers an option to earn money instead of hunting and felling trees. Satya added that they received Rs 70,000 for this project. They have also roped in a team of experts in mushroom cultivation from Holycross Vigyan Kendra, Hazaribagh. Led by Suresh Kumar, participants are shown the best ways to grow button, oyster and milky mushroom.

The participants were given the material to grow mushrooms. They have cultivated four bags during the course of the 45-day training. “Once they get the know-how, they will teach other villagers how to grow mushrooms. We are looking at a positive ripple effect. We will help them market the produce,” he said.

Murari Singh, the foundation’s vice-president, said: “Mushroom is a cash crop that grows in 45 days. We explained to villagers that the sanctuary is an asset and it was their onus to save it.” He added this project was an experiment and that if results were positive, it would be implemented at other places too.

Bilung Kumar of Kaile village said he would join the mushroom trade after the training. “We were told that we can earn between Rs 4,000 and 5,000,” he said. Anjana Kumari, another participant, admitted that earlier she used to collect firewood from the sanctuary. “I know cutting trees is wrong but I had no option. Now we can look forward to earning money through farming,” she said.

Spread over 186.25sqkm and 17km from district headquarters, the wildlife sanctuary has many species of animals and birds, but the main attraction is the spotted deer.