By Growing Mushrooms in a 250 Sq Ft Rented Room, Student earns 76000/Month

“Honestly, since it was an experiment, we didn’t expect much. But after 25 days, the bags were brimming with mushrooms. Altogether, we had produced 10 kg of mushrooms in one go!”

Today, ‘Fungo Mushrooms’ produces upto 1,000 kg of mushroom every three months and sells it at Rs 350/kg, with the profit being about Rs 230/kg. The team also recently received the first runner up award for the ‘Student Driven Sustainability Project of the Year’ award by the Triple E Awards in the Asia Pacific region, competing with 350 other universities.

“What started out as a simple experiment, turned out to be a business venture. And we were able to do it along with our studies. I think that has to be our biggest achievement. Currently, we are looking for ways to enter the e-commerce world and even have plans to create products from mushrooms like pickles, powders and even wine,” Clint concludes.

Rich in Vitamin B, mushrooms have always been an excellent way to build a diet full of protein, fibre and minerals. In recent years, many urban gardeners have turned to mushroom gardening because it needs less space, is easy to grow and of course, reaps better returns.

For Clint Davis, an MSc (Microbiology) student, growing mushrooms professionally sprung from a project he worked on during his undergraduate course. In 2017, during his BSc third year at the JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysuru, he decided to pursue his final year project on creating wine out of mushrooms.

“This got a lot of recognition because it was something unique and unheard of; you could say that was the turning point for me,” says the 24-year-old.

Three years down the line, he now manages his organic mushroom startup Fungo Mushrooms and earns upto Rs 3, 50,000 every three months!“I first saw the different kinds of innovation used in agriculture and farming when I visited my uncle’s agricultural start-up, GYO Foods, back in 2015. He had an aquaponics and hydroponics section, microgreen cultivation along with different kinds of mushrooms. That’s when I really got a better understanding of the technology and technique behind several farming methods which got me interested,” says Clint.

Once he had been successful with his third-year project, the possibility of pursuing mushroom cultivation started looming around Clint’s mind. He shared his idea with his roommate, Ajay Jose, studying for Emergency Medicine from the same college. Ajay, coming from a family of farmers decided to support Clint and together they decided to grow mushrooms and sell it in the market.

“When we explored the market, we realised that there was a huge gap for organic mushrooms in Mysuru. All they sold was ‘button mushrooms’ which were completely filled with chemicals and preservatives,” explains Ajay.

The duo took this as a golden opportunity and set up a 250 sq.ft rented room with almost 300 bags of mushroom seeds.

Using basic materials like ropes and plastic bags to fill the seeds in, the duo hung the bags filled with straw and oyster mushroom seeds in the room and decided to experiment.

“By then word spread, and one of my juniors, Raj Kiran who was also interested in mushroom cultivation, decided to join us and help us out with the venture,” says Clint.

“We sourced all the other materials like paddy straws and mushroom seeds (spawns) from a nearby horticulture centre and browsed through several YouTube channels to see how it was done. Honestly, since it was on an experimental basis, we didn’t have much expectation,” he adds.

So how did a college student set up a mushroom business in just three years?

“I first saw the different kinds of innovation used in agriculture and farming when I visited my uncle’s agricultural start-up, GYO Foods, back in 2015. He had an aquaponics and hydroponics section, microgreen cultivation along with different kinds of mushrooms. That’s when I really got a better understanding of the technology and technique behind several farming methods which got me interested,” says Clint.

Once he had been successful with his third-year project, the possibility of pursuing mushroom cultivation started looming around Clint’s mind. He shared his idea with his roommate, Ajay Jose, studying for Emergency Medicine from the same college. Ajay, coming from a family of farmers decided to support Clint and together they decided to grow mushrooms and sell it in the market.

“When we explored the market, we realised that there was a huge gap for organic mushrooms in Mysuru. All they sold was ‘button mushrooms’ which were completely filled with chemicals and preservatives,” explains Ajay.

The duo took this as a golden opportunity and set up a 250 sq.ft rented room with almost 300 bags of mushroom seeds.

Using basic materials like ropes and plastic bags to fill the seeds in, the duo hung the bags filled with straw and oyster mushroom seeds in the room and decided to experiment.

“By then word spread, and one of my juniors, Raj Kiran who was also interested in mushroom cultivation, decided to join us and help us out with the venture,” says Clint.

“We sourced all the other materials like paddy straws and mushroom seeds (spawns) from a nearby horticulture centre and browsed through several YouTube channels to see how it was done. Honestly, since it was on an experimental basis, we didn’t have much expectation,” he adds.