Mushroom Cultivation offers Chaitana a New Lease of Life:

Chaitana Santa, a young man of 30 years, is basically a farmer from Boipariguda Block of Koraput district. But his income was not sufficient to maintain his family, because of which he had opted for seasonal migration to nearby town of Jaypure & Koraput in search of job. But this Covid-19 pandemic created a lot of problem for him when he was not able to move anywhere for work. His hardship became worst as he could not sell the harvested farm produces during the period March-August 2020.

In the month of September, he came to know about the mushroom cultivation training opportunity created by CYSD from a Community Resource Person of his area. Chaitana shown his interest to undergo Mushroom production training and undergone through all the selection process. Finally, he was enrolled in the mushroom cultivation training at RLTC, Baipariguda. Being a proactive young man, he explored the prospective of mushroom cultivation and successfully completed his training and obtained a certificate.

During post training follow-up, CYSD team got to know that Chaitana has started mushroom cultivation in his village and engaged other two youths in this initiative. “Mushroom cultivation has offered me a new lease of life to fulfil my dream”, says Chaitan in cheerful face.

Basanti proves herself as a Woman Agri- Entrepreneur:

Basanti Mali, a passionate and courageous woman of 45. She works as a migrant labourer in nearby town, like Jyapore & Koraput to supplement her family income along with  her husband, a daily labour. Still the income was not sufficient for maintaining the entire family. Due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and shutdown, Basanti was totally disheartened. She was not allowed to go outside for work. Being at home and sitting idle, she was desperately wondering for an opportunity for livelihood. Luckily, she got to know about the Mushroom Production Training program of CYSD and went through the need based assessment process. Finally, she enrolled herself in the training program, completed the training, and obtained a completion certificate.

After 3 days of training completion, Basanti called CYSD Skill team and informed “I have initiated mushroom cultivation in my courtyard by raising 6 mushroom beds and proved myself as a woman agri-entrepreneur”. Now, Basanti is a known entrepreneur in mushroom production and able to engage 4 potential women in her venture