Excelsior Correspondent
KARGIL, Sept 17: One day capacity building workshop for the young women entrepreneurs and student trainees on the cultivation and value additions of edible mushrooms and their market potential was held at the Mountain Agriculture Research & Extension Station (MAR&ES) SKUAST, Kargil, UT of Ladakh.
The workshop was organized under the aegis of the National Mission on Himalayan studies project “Database Development on Diversity and indigenous knowledge on mushrooms towards their cultivation and conservation in Trans Himalayan District of Kargil”.
On the occasion, Dr Faizan Ahmad, Senior Scientist, MAR&ES Kargil, SKUAST- Kashmir and the local implementing partner of the project, opined that there is an ardent need for value addition interventions as mushrooms on account of their high perishability and short shelf-life cannot be stored for longer. Besides, he added, the organized marketing of the mushrooms and their products also need immediate attention of the authorities to help entrepreneurs reap more financial benefits.
Dr Nasreen F Kacho, Scientist, Plant Pathology of KVK, Kargil and the local implementing partner, shared the success stories of the several women entrepreneurs.
Addressing the gathering of participating research students and entrepreneurs, Prof Yash Pal Sharma, the Principal Investigator of the project, divulged upon the importance of mushroom cultivation, their nutritional significance and medicinal value. “Mushrooms are the future foods and contribute effectively in bringing a non-green revolution,” informed. Prof Sharma.
He suggested that local Self-Help Groups can be a very viable option to regulate the market chain of mushrooms and their products after obtaining Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certification.
During the workshop, Syed Azhar Hashmi outlined the present schemes with Government support for entrepreneurial ventures.
A visit to the mushroom units set up by the Padma at Wakha-Mulbekh was also organized on the occasion. On behalf of the NMHS, digital merit certificates were presented to the women entrepreneurs.
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