LUDHIANA, MARCH 3, 2026: In its continued pursuit of nurturing enterprise-driven innovation, School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU); and NIDHI-TBI (DST, GoI) organized a focused training programme on “Mushroom Production and Marketing,” aimed at guiding incubatees toward establishing commercially sustainable mushroom ventures. The initiative was structured to blend scientific know-how with practical business insights, enabling participants to confidently step into the fast-growing mushroom sector.
Dr Urmila Gupta, Head, Department of Microbiology, PAU, along with her team, Dr Shivani Sharma, Dr Jaspreet Kaur and Dr Anna Goyal, Mycologists (Mushroom), PAU, led the technical sessions with detailed scientific insights and hands-on demonstrations. She elaborated on the importance of maintaining hygienic conditions, selecting quality spawn, and monitoring environmental parameters such as humidity and temperature for consistent yield and disease-free production. The live demonstrations enabled participants to understand practical challenges and adopt scientific troubleshooting measures in commercial setups.
Addressing the participants, Dr Ramandeep Singh, Principal Investigator, NIDHI-TBI and Director, SBS, PAU, with his team Dr Rakesh Rathore, Assistant Professor, SBS; Dr Navneet Kaur Gill, Assistant Professor, SBS, and Dr Manveer Singh, Teaching Assistant, SBS, highlighted mushrooms as a strategic crop with immense potential in both urban and rural settings. He remarked that the sector offers attractive prospects due to its short cultivation cycle, scalability, and increasing consumer awareness about its nutritional benefits. He also emphasized that such specialized programmes reflect the shared vision of DST and PAU to empower innovators and strengthen agri-startups through technology-backed training.
Sharing her perspective, Dr Poonam A. Sachdev, Co-Principal Investigator, NIDHI-TBI and Principal Food Technologist, FST, PAU, encouraged participants to think beyond primary production and focus on value creation. She discussed opportunities in branding, product differentiation, processed mushroom products, and developing strong market positioning. She also advised incubatees to prioritize quality assurance, packaging standards, and regulatory compliance to build consumer trust and ensure business sustainability.
On behalf of team NIDHI-TBI, Mr Gurinder Singh Gill, CEO, and Mr Sameer Gautam, BM, lauded the keen interest and proactive participation displayed by the trainees throughout the programme. They further shared that, as part of the experiential learning component, the participants were taken for an industrial visit to Saraa Mushroom Farm, village Sawaddi, Ludhiana, where they gained first-hand exposure to a commercial-scale mushroom production unit. During the visit, trainees closely observed real-time cultivation practices, infrastructure setup, climate control systems, harvesting procedures, grading, and packaging operations. The training concluded with positive reflections from participants, reinforcing the relevance of mushroom cultivation as a promising entrepreneurial pathway.