Delhi Farmer Started Growing Mushrooms In A Small Room, Now Produces 170 Kg Mushrooms Daily - Clocks Monthly Revenue Of Rs 7 Lakh

Hailing from the Hasanpur village in New Delhi, Pawan Kumar was working as a traditional farmer for numerous years.

In 2016, a seemingly ordinary meeting with a friend who worked in the nearby Krishi Vigyan Kendra changed the course of Pawan’s life.

“My friend told me to explore other opportunities in the agricultural sector, along with what I was already doing. He suggested that I start growing mushrooms. I became interested and decided to start a small mushroom business. It's been close to nine years now, and it's safe to say, everything fell right into place,” Pawan Kumar, founder of High-Tech Mushroom Farm, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2016 and based near Najafgarh in New Delhi, High-Tech Mushroom Farm generates a daily output of 170 kilograms of high-quality button mushrooms.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Working as a conventional farmer in the Hasanpur village, New Delhi, Pawan Kumar was introduced to mushrooms by a friend.

Curious to try out the space and see its potential, Pawan Kumar decided to obtain training regarding growing mushrooms from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Ujwa, Delhi.

Next, he started his mushroom farming business from a small room that could contain 6 tonnes of compost.

“Its size would roughly be 22 by 25 sq ft. But the size of the room doesn't matter that much. Because you can stack up racks of mushrooms,” farming entrepreneur Pawan tells Startup Pedia.

He also wanted to start his own compost unit, but since his agricultural land is located within the urban area of Delhi, he couldn't obtain the required permissions from the government.

“So I decided to order compost instead of making it on my own. But to date, I make sure that the compost’s ingredients and preparation method are exactly in line with what I want,” he adds.

With this, Pawan Kumar’s mushroom farming business began with an investment of Rs 5 lakh. This amount went into getting the air conditioners, setting up the unit with racks, obtaining spawns, and other spending on other miscellaneous necessities.

He contacted a mushroom spawn seller in Murthal and purchased spawns from him at the price of Rs 70 per kilogram.

“I took 60 kilograms of button mushroom spawns from him,” farming entrepreneur Pawan mentions.

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INITIAL CHALLENGES AND JOURNEY

When Pawan Kumar started High-Tech Mushroom Farm, there was no one else who was doing the same thing in the neighbouring areas. He didn't have a defined playbook to refer to.

“I had taken training, but the thing in agriculture is that you only get to know of your mistakes when you do things practically,” Pawan Kumar mentions.

Initially, he made some errors in identifying the right kind of compost and seed quality.

Even though these mistakes didn't really deteriorate the produce quality, they did bring down the amount of output.

In the first batch of mushrooms that were produced in 2016 from the single room containing 6 tonnes of compost, the output was roughly 900 kilograms of mushrooms.

By 2017, Pawan Kumar expanded his mushroom unit to three rooms to hold a capacity of 37 tonnes of compost.

In the same year, High-Tech Mushroom Farm witnessed an approximate output of 7.5 tonnes of button mushrooms per production cycle. In a year, he started operating five cycles.

Pawan sold the mushroom output directly to offline and retail customers like vegetable stall owners and dealers.

“In the initial years of our mushroom farming business, we used to skip the wholesale channels to save costs. But now we also sell at wholesale rates as well as retail channels,” farming entrepreneur Pawan explains.

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HI-TECH MUSHROOM FARM

Today, Pawan Kumar has expanded his mushroom farming unit into 5 rooms across a space of 3,150 square feet.

According to him, the production has been timed in a way that he receives a regular output to fulfil the customer and market demand.

“It is important to note that mushroom production keeps fluctuating. Some days, we get only 50 kilograms of mushrooms. Other days, we go up to even 500 kilograms. But we have set up our unit in a way that we keep getting a regular output,” he explains.

Today, High-Tech Mushroom Farm produces an average of 170 kilograms of high-quality button mushrooms every day.

“So, in a year, we are basically producing 12000 kilograms of button mushrooms per production cycle that lasts anywhere between 60 to 70 days,” farming entrepreneur Pawan Kumar mentions.

Apart from growing button mushrooms, he also produces other varieties like portobello and oyster mushrooms. However, these varieties are grown in significantly smaller batches than the button mushrooms.

When asked about the production cost per kilogram of the mushrooms, Pawan Kumar mentions that it's roughly between Rs 100 and Rs 110.

“As far as the selling price is concerned, you must know that it keeps fluctuating. It really depends on the production and demand dynamics of the market. It could be anywhere between Rs 120 and Rs 300 to 400 kilograms,” farming entrepreneur Pawan says.

The peak season for the button mushrooms takes place during the wedding seasons of November to December and March to April.

Excluding special occasions when the prices go up to Rs 400 per kilogram, Pawan Kumar says that the average selling price varies between Rs 140 and Rs 250.

Pawan Kumar’s High-Tech Mushroom Farm employs four permanent labour workers and four others on a contractual, as-needed basis. He has extensively trained his permanent labour in the technicalities of mushroom harvesting and believes it is one of the most important parts of the business.

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GROWTH AND CONTRIBUTION

“When I had started this mushroom farming venture, I went all in with my efforts. I kept reinvesting the revenues and profits and expanded the unit. Today, we are a profitable mushroom unit now. My son, Kunal, looks after the marketing aspects of the output, and my wife trains and supervises the labour. We were able to shift to a new flat,” mushroom entrepreneur Pawan Kumar tells Startup Pedia.

Although he didn't explicitly share his revenue details, Startup Pedia has calculated the amount by multiplying the daily mushroom output by the average selling price of Rs 150 per kilogram.

Hence, the monthly revenue of High-Tech Mushroom Farm comes to a rough figure of Rs 7 lakh. On an annual basis, the revenue zooms to more than Rs 90 lakh.

Apart from just growing mushrooms and contributing to the agricultural economy of the country, Pawan Kumar and his family are also involved in offering expert-level mushroom farming training to aspiring mushroom entrepreneurs, PhD students, and local farmers who want to scale their business and expand into mushrooms.

To date, Pawan Kumar has helped set up close to 40 mushroom units all over India. 

“Currently, I charge Rs 10,000 from one individual and give them unlimited access to my mushroom unit and experience. They can stay here and absorb not just the basics but also understand the mistakes I made and avoid them in their venture. I am very glad to help people start their mushroom business and make decent money,” Pawan Kumar concludes.