Chandan Sarkar of Tona village of Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira district has changed his fortune in mushroom cultivation. He is the son of late Gobind Chandra Sarkar of village Tona of Dakshin Sripur Union of Kaliganj Upazila. For the past two years, he has earned more than two and a half lakh rupees by working hard and cultivating mushrooms. Seeing his success, many unemployed youths in the area have become interested in mushroom cultivation.

Chandan told the Sound of community  reporter, “During the Corona period, I lost my job. Then I came home from Dhaka. My time was going very bad, unemployment and the Corona situation was depressing me. I then thought it was absolutely necessary not to do anything. After watching videos on social media YouTube and with the help of the local Kaliganj Upazila Agriculture Department, I got inspired to grow mushrooms.”
Chandan said that in September 2021, he took a 10-day training on mushroom cultivation from the Dream Mushroom Training Center in Magura at a cost of 11,000 taka, and then started mushroom cultivation on three and a half acres of land next to his homestead. In this he saw the face of success. That year he earned 63 thousand taka. After that – in 2022 he spent 63 thousand rupees and till May 2023 he earned more than two and a half lakh rupees. The mushrooms that are still there will be sold for another 50,000 taka.
In the beginning, Chandan Sarkar collected Wester mushroom seeds from Dhaka and Magura. Initially he started with 40 packets, but now his farm has about 3500 packets. Each packet costs more than 40 rupees. Yielding starts after one month. One month continuous yield is available from each packet. He gets 30-35 kg of mushrooms every day. Mushrooms are sold wholesale at Tk 200 per kg, and retail at Tk 180. Mushrooms produced by him are supplied to different districts and areas of Bangladesh including Dhaka. Chandan Sarkar also said that he wants to cultivate mushrooms on a larger scale. Will start the seed production process soon. He thinks it will be easy to expand the scope of his farm if he gets any government or private support. Seeing his initiative, many local unemployed youths have become interested in mushroom cultivation. In this regard, South Sreepur Agriculture Officer Sheikh Abu Latif Shamsuzzaman said that mushroom is a very nutritious, tasty and medicinal food. It contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antibiotics and antioxidants. Taste, Nutrition and Medicinal Properties. It has already become quite popular across the country as it is possible to earn more with less capital and labor. In continuation of that, mushroom cultivation is becoming known in Tona village of South Sreepur Union. We will provide all the support through SACP project and Chandan Sarkar is a lead farmer of SACP project. While telling his success story, Chandan excitedly said that if young men and women like me are entrepreneurs who do not look for employment, unemployment will be removed and the country can be enriched by earning foreign currency by exporting the country’s products to foreign countries.