Economic Viability of Mushrooms Cultivation to Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh

Abstract

Mushroom is an important vegetable usually grows in the forest with its nutritive and medicinal value. It can also be cultivated domestically in a small scale by landless people. The climate of Bangladesh is highly favourable for high volume of mushroom production. The cultivation of mushroom is one of the lucrative agricultural job. In our study the profitability of mushroom cultivation was found comparatively higher than that of rice and wheat, the most popular cash earning crops in Bangladesh. As funding to promote the production and consumption of mushrooms is limited, local government and NGOs can play vital role to develop mushroom agriculture to arise at industrial level which can create ample employment opportunities both in semi-urban and rural areas. This result suggests that the potential of mushroom cultivation could be a possible offer to alleviate poverty and develop the life style of the vulnerable people in Bangladesh.