Big firms plan mushroom cultivation
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Big local companies are eying for production of mushrooms on a commercial basis to exploit the rising demand for the edible fungi both in domestic and international markets.
The companies including Abdul Monem Group, Square, Daud Group and an agro-processing firm owned by former caretaker adviser Dhiraj Kumar Nath have planned for the non-traditional agricultural product.
A director of Abdul Monem Group told the FE that his company wants to produce mushroom in collaboration with a Netherlands-based concern.
Mohiuddin Monem, the director of the group said: "We're talking to company to produce mushroom of international standard to gain a share in the global market."
Mr Mohiuddin also said his company is now studying domestic and international markets prior to start the mushroom production which is rich in protein.
Local companies say the potential of overseas market is immense. They said European countries, the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados import tonnes of mushrooms each year.
The demand for mushroom, a diversified agricultural product, is growing on an average 15 per in the country, officials told the FE.
The domestic market size now stands at more than worth Tk 300 million a year, according to sources.
Saleh Ahmed, project director of strengthening mushroom development project said the consumption of mushroom is growing on an average 15 per cent a year adding: "Main consumers belong to elite groups in the cities."
Mr Saleh also said more than 20,000 farmers are producing around 1500 tonnes mushroom a year. Adding: "It was a few tonnes five to six years back."
Mahbuba Moonmoon, a mushroom development officer of the project, told the FE that the country's leading Square Group is also planning to invest in the non-agricultural product.
Mahbuba said Bangladesh has now six varieties of mushroom including two new ones - golden and pink.
Daud Group, an agro-processing company, has already built a plant at Shokhipur in Tangail and it is selling the product in the city.
The company is now producing mushroom on a limited scale and plans for big cultivation shortly, according to the company.
The edible varieties of the fungus are used extensively in cooking in various cuisines.
According to FAO, a person should eat at least 250 grammes a day.
Local restaurants, fast food shops and residents of posh areas are the major consumers of mushroom who use it to prepare soups and different curries.
However, the city's major superstores said that the demand for the product is also rising there.
They said that chilled and canned mushrooms are in high demand.
But the canned products are imported from countries like China, India, Indonesia, and the United States.
Shiitake, reishi, milky white, button and oyster mushrooms are the varieties planted locally because of their capacity to grow under local humid conditions.
Mushrooms are produced using a special type of fungus which is mixed with sawdust, pegasse or rice straw.
The development officer said a bag of 250-gram mushroom seed is sold at Tk 8.0 and it can yield product worth Tk 50.
A bag of matured fungus takes three weeks to develop into mushrooms.
Big local companies are eying for production of mushrooms on a commercial basis to exploit the rising demand for the edible fungi both in domestic and international markets.
The companies including Abdul Monem Group, Square, Daud Group and an agro-processing firm owned by former caretaker adviser Dhiraj Kumar Nath have planned for the non-traditional agricultural product.
A director of Abdul Monem Group told the FE that his company wants to produce mushroom in collaboration with a Netherlands-based concern.
Mohiuddin Monem, the director of the group said: "We're talking to company to produce mushroom of international standard to gain a share in the global market."
Mr Mohiuddin also said his company is now studying domestic and international markets prior to start the mushroom production which is rich in protein.
Local companies say the potential of overseas market is immense. They said European countries, the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados import tonnes of mushrooms each year.
The demand for mushroom, a diversified agricultural product, is growing on an average 15 per in the country, officials told the FE.
The domestic market size now stands at more than worth Tk 300 million a year, according to sources.
Saleh Ahmed, project director of strengthening mushroom development project said the consumption of mushroom is growing on an average 15 per cent a year adding: "Main consumers belong to elite groups in the cities."
Mr Saleh also said more than 20,000 farmers are producing around 1500 tonnes mushroom a year. Adding: "It was a few tonnes five to six years back."
Mahbuba Moonmoon, a mushroom development officer of the project, told the FE that the country's leading Square Group is also planning to invest in the non-agricultural product.
Mahbuba said Bangladesh has now six varieties of mushroom including two new ones - golden and pink.
Daud Group, an agro-processing company, has already built a plant at Shokhipur in Tangail and it is selling the product in the city.
The company is now producing mushroom on a limited scale and plans for big cultivation shortly, according to the company.
The edible varieties of the fungus are used extensively in cooking in various cuisines.
According to FAO, a person should eat at least 250 grammes a day.
Local restaurants, fast food shops and residents of posh areas are the major consumers of mushroom who use it to prepare soups and different curries.
However, the city's major superstores said that the demand for the product is also rising there.
They said that chilled and canned mushrooms are in high demand.
But the canned products are imported from countries like China, India, Indonesia, and the United States.
Shiitake, reishi, milky white, button and oyster mushrooms are the varieties planted locally because of their capacity to grow under local humid conditions.
Mushrooms are produced using a special type of fungus which is mixed with sawdust, pegasse or rice straw.
The development officer said a bag of 250-gram mushroom seed is sold at Tk 8.0 and it can yield product worth Tk 50.
A bag of matured fungus takes three weeks to develop into mushrooms.