2 weeks ago
How Punjab brothers built a mushroom empire from Rs 10,000
Two brothers named Sanjiv and Rajinder live in a village in Punjab, India.
In 1995, they started growing mushrooms with just about ten thousand rupees — like a small pocket of savings.
They used the straw left over from rice farming to help the mushrooms grow.
At first it was just an experiment, but it turned into a very big business.
Today, their mushroom farm makes more than three crore rupees every year.
It works on a small piece of land — only about one and a half acres.
In fact, the mushrooms earn more than twenty times more money than the big fields where they grow wheat, potatoes, and rice.
The farm makes mushroom 'seeds', called spawn, in its own special lab and sells fresh mushrooms across Punjab and Jammu.
About 32 people work there, and the family has won national and state awards.
They also teach other farmers how to grow mushrooms.
Sardar Sanjiv Singh (59) and his brother Rajinder Singh (55) started the venture in 1995 with about Rs 10,000 and 10 quintals of paddy straw in Budhipind village under Dasuya.
The enterprise now generates over Rs 3 crore in annual turnover from about 1.5 acres, employing nearly 32 people.
It produces 500 kg each of fresh mushrooms and mushroom spawn daily, worth around Rs 95,000, with a profit margin of about 15%.
The family set up its own mushroom spawn laboratory in 2008, the first such laboratory in the state, and prepares Holland and US spawn varieties.
Mushroom income is more than 20 times the revenue generated from the remaining roughly 15 acres used for traditional wheat, potato and paddy cultivation.
- Who
- Sardar Sanjiv Singh (59), his brother Rajinder Singh (55), and Sanjiv's son Harmanpreet Singh (29), of Budhipind village under Dasuya, Punjab.
- What
- Built a mushroom agri-business worth over Rs 3 crore a year — including indoor cultivation, spawn production, packing, marketing, and farmer training — from an initial Rs 10,000 investment in 1995.
- Where
- Budhipind village under Dasuya, Punjab, India; products are supplied through dealers to markets across Punjab, including Jalandhar, and to Jammu and surrounding areas.
- When
- Started in 1995 and grown over nearly three decades; the report reflects current operations.
- Why
- The family says conventional cropping offered limited scope to raise farm income, while mushroom cultivation generates higher returns from a much smaller area and creates employment.
Key facts
- Founders
- Sanjiv Singh (59) and Rajinder Singh (55)
- Business start
- 1995, with Rs 10,000 and 10 quintals of paddy straw
- Annual turnover
- Over Rs 3 crore
- Profit margin
- Around 15%
- Land used
- About 1.5 acres of the family's 17-acre farmland
- Daily production
- 500 kg each of fresh mushrooms and spawn, worth around Rs 95,000
- Employees
- Nearly 32 people
- First spawn lab
- Set up in 2008 — the first such laboratory in the state
Quotes
Sardar Sanjiv Singh
Head of the mushroom venture
“We now use nearly 4,000 quintals of paddy straw annually as the basic raw material for mushroom production.”
indianexpress.com
“The unit has a production capacity of around 500 kg each of fresh mushrooms and mushroom spawn daily.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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