This is the story of Upendra Kushwaha, who lives in Belwa Pakaria village in West Champaran district of Bihar and holds a graduation degree in agriculture. After completing his degree, his dream of going outside to work broke during the coronavirus pandemic, and he returned home. Instead of waiting, he decided to start something new from home itself.
He first took training in mushroom farming and began the business from a small hut, investing about Rs 1.5 lakh and starting button mushroom production with 700 bags. Mushrooms have the advantage that production from a ready bag begins in just 45 days, and the entire harvesting is completed within 70 days, so within a few months he began to understand the maths of profit in the business.
From a hut to modern units
As profits kept coming, Upendra expanded the scale of his work, moving from an ordinary hut to permanent modern units. When his early business reached a turnover of Rs 50 lakh, he increased the number of units sharply and also began preparing his own spawn bags, or mushroom kits, focusing on better quality. Reliable supply meant mushroom traders across the district began buying from him, which pushed his income up sharply.
Crores in turnover, supplies across four states
Upendra has now been in mushroom farming for more than five years, and his annual turnover has crossed Rs 2.5 crore. He has built about eight modern units with a capacity of around 2,000 mushroom bags, from which each crop cycle of 45 to 70 days produces a bumper harvest of about 12 tonnes of mushrooms.
Through modern techniques and better management, he keeps taking the business to new heights, and through his modern and advanced farming he has also set an example of local employment. His farm's supply is not limited to different districts of Bihar, but reaches many large areas of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well. The journey that began in a small hut has today become an inspiring example of rural entrepreneurship for young people, and people nearby call him the Mushroom King.
