Barnala Farmer earning lakhs by growing Mushrooms in Lab
Tapa/Barnala-Rachhpal Singh, a young progressive farmer hailing from Balloke village of the Barnala district has scaled new heights in the field of agriculture. With his determination, Rachhpal has grown Cordyceps Militaris (Keeda Jadi) in a special lab that has been developed by him in his village. Cordyceps Militaris, a kind of mushroom, is usually grown in the higher reaches of Himalayas, but this progressive farmer is growing it in his own house at village Balloke.
It is pertinent to mention that Cordyceps Militaris is priced very high and is also grown in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, China etc.
Rachhpal Singh has proved that if internet and social media is put to the right use, then nothing is impossible for our Punjabi farmers. Not only this, he is also growing Strawberry in 4-acres of his farmland and is selling it outside Punjab on high profit.
With the help of Atma Barnala, he took initial training regarding the tissue culture of mushrooms from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Handiaya. After completing his training, he sought more details about it from the internet and got connected to some farmers in Thailand through Facebook. Those farmers from Thailand briefed him about strawberry farming and later educated him about Cordyceps Militaris. Later, he sourced the Cordyceps Militaris “culture” from Thailand and carried out several experiments.
For the experimentation and testing of this culture, he even set up his own lab at his village. He expanded the culture sourced from Thailand and with the help of tissue culture, increased it further and carried out more experiments. He even prepared a room to control moisture levels. Some pieces of Cordyceps Militaris were packed in boxes and has now sent them for quality checkup. Its price would be fixed as per its quality. He is now planning to market it through internet or sell it directly to companies. Cordyceps Militaris is considered very
These days, Rachhpal Singh is conducting more study on other cultures on internet so that mushrooms can be grown in lesser time. He is also planning to grow silkworms in his farm and day is not far when other farmers would also follow his footsteps.
