CONSTRAINTS EXPERIENCED BY MUSHROOM GROWERS IN ADOPTING IMPROVED MUSHROOM PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN PUSA, BIHAR

Mushrooms (vegetarian meat/vegetable beef stick) is becoming fast popular because of its short time period between cultivation and harvesting; less initial investment and can be grown with locally available resources. Though more technology is available for boosting mushroom production, the yield so far achieved is not high. Hence, an attempt is made to find out the constraints faced by mushroom growers in adoption of improved mushroom production practices. Samastipur district of Bihar was purposively selected for the study because, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, a pioneer in mushroom production technology is located in the study area. 120 respondents from six villages of Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar forms the respondents of the present study. Primary data was collected from the mushroom growers and the responses were subjected to statistical analysis. The results indicated that unavailability of quality spawn, unavailability of skilled labor, absence of technical guidance, high transport cost, unavailability of storage facilities, high cost of spawn and long distance market were the most problematic constraints faced by the mushroom growers. Thus, it can be concluded that adequate extension service should be made available to make mushroom cultivation popular, market and marketing of the products.