only because someone has to sneeze”, says Arun. There are three incubation rooms that can each hold 15,000 kg of spawn. At a temperature of 23-24 degrees, spawn run here takes two weeks. The seasonal variety is 27957A, imported from Germany. “It is a non-hybrid variety, and really easy to grow.” That makes things simple for the seasonal growers, who collect the spawn themselves from Swadeshi. The adjacent ice factory supplies bags of ice for cooling during transport.
The 35 employees at Swadeshi produce around two tons a day. “We hardly ever have spawn in storage, we work to order only”. Bags of mother spawn are also sold for eight to10 dollars a bag. Swadeshi also owns an extensive ‘bank’ of mother cultures. Arun: “There are a further 12 spawn producers in India, but 30 to 40 percent of the Indian markets is produced here by us.” According to him, India produces 250,000 tons of mushrooms annually, and that figure is growing fast, partly thanks to the healthy image of the mushroom. “Mushrooms still belong to the luxury market segment for consumers, you can easily pay a dollar and a half per kg, and in summer, when supplies almost dry up, up to three 3 dollars.” So it is rather fortuitous that Swadeshi still has space to expand. The second storey is currently home to a small oyster mushroom farm, run by Pranav.
Azadpur Mandi Arun and Pranav accompanied us to Azadpur Mandi, the Ch. Hira Singh Wholesale Vegetable and Fruit Market. This is not only the leading
Azadpur Mandi.
national distribution centre for fruit and vegetables, but also the largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market in entire Asia. Practically all the fresh, agricultural produce from Jammu, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh is transported here and traded at night. Despite the sheer size of the market, there are few modern facilities. The complete fruit and vegetable district teem- ing with market stalls, vendors, traders, shops and warehouses covers more than a staggering 36 hectares (!) and is a true onslaught to the senses. We visited in the daytime, so it wasn’t even ‘busy’. It was an amazing experience to wander around between the vividly painted lorries loaded to overflowing with passengers or melons, barbers shaving customers outdoors, bikes piled high with goods, bearers bent double under huge jute sacks and stroll down narrow alleyways where the scent of red peppers brought tears to your eyes, through enveloping clouds of dust, smoke and exhaust fumes, not to mention dirt. Mushrooms were also on sale in blue punnets or small plastic bags. We were the only foreigners, and glad to have the services of good guides, otherwise we would have lost our way. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, don’t miss it!
NIFTEM and IHITC To end our first day we drove to the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management on the HSIIDC Industrial Estate in Sonepat, some 50 kilometres away from Delhi. NIFTEM was established by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries with the
A group of women from rural communities being taught how to pack mushrooms and eggplant.
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 35
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