Abstract
Mushroom cultivation has been identified as an important livelihood strategy that fits in very well with sustainable farming. This has several advantages, for example, it uses agricultural waste products, it works like a quick cash crop with no use of land, a high production per surface area can be obtained, and after picking, the spent substrate is still a good soil conditioner. The study also delineates the production economics of mushroom cultivation among the poorest of the poor.
A study was also conducted in three villages of Nalanda district in the state of Bihar to identify the determinants and constraints to livelihood diversification. The study has shown that educational level, asset position, access to credit, and rural infrastructure are some important driving forces towards livelihood diversification in the region. The resource-poor are particularly vulnerable and unable to diversify because of the entry barriers imposed by their weak asset base.
Surya Bhushan, Associate Professor, Development Management Institute (DMI), Patna, Bihar; Email: surya.bhushan@gmail.com
Piyush Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, West Bengal; Email: piyushsingh.er@gmail.com
Sridhar Telidevara, Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon, Haryana; Email: sridhar.telidevara@gmail.com
Santosh Kumar, District Project Manager, Bihar Rural Livelihoods Programme Society (BRLPS), Nalanda, Bihar; Email: dpm_nalanda@brlp.in
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Notes
- 1.
Mycelium is the network of hyphae that form the vegetative body of the fungus. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the mycelium.
- 2.
The mycelium will form mushrooms in its reproductive stage. This is called fruiting, as the mushrooms are actually the fruiting bodies of the mycelium.
- 3.
A 30% solution of formaldehyde is used to sterilise areas. The gases kill living micro-organisms and spores.
- 4.
Inoculation helps in transferring an organism into a specific substrate.
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Bhushan, S., Singh, P.K., Telidevara, S., Kumar, S. (2019). Understanding Livelihood Diversification: A Case Study of Mushroom Farming in Bihar. In: Nayak, A. (eds) Transition Strategies for Sustainable Community Systems. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00356-2_14
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