🌱 Mushrooms: A $69B Market for India?
India doesn't care much about mushrooms. But it should because this one crop could open up a huge market for us.
The word mushroom probably brings to mind a lot of yummy dishes (unless you are a Jain).
But using them just for food is a huge waste of potential.
It is kind of like having Einstein do your taxes.
Because mushrooms have a massive potential beyond your kitchen.
In fact, they could revolutionise the lives of Indian farmers and give us a massive trade boost.
Think these are tall claims? ReadOn!
🍽 First, Let's Talk About Food
The traditional Indian diet does not consist of mushrooms.
Which is why a lot of Indians, especially vegetarians, are skeptical about eating them.
A lot of farmers also stay away from this crop because it isn't grown in the traditional way (and a lot of wild mushrooms can be poisonous, further increasing distrust of them).
But farmers could benefit immensely from growing mushrooms. They could start cultivation with as little as ₹10,000. And within a few months, they can see 3X returns.
Plus, no middlemen are involved in this mushroom trade usually. Farmers, and now even startups like the Green Apron, directly sell these mushrooms to gourmet stores or restaurants. And they can grow it with their other crops all year long!
But ReadOn, you just said demand for mushrooms was low in India. Then why should more farmers grow it, won't it screw up the demand-supply cycle?
Well, we Indians may not want to eat mushrooms, but they are hugely popular in other countries.
While in India the per capita consumption of mushrooms is just around 90 grams, in some European countries the per capita consumption is 3-4 kgs.
Because of this, the mushroom market is set to reach $69 billion by 2024, opening up a massive export opportunity for us.
And like we said, mushrooms have a huge potential beyond food. So, growing mushrooms can also help us tap into a lot of related industries.
🧐 Potential of Mushrooms Beyond the Kitchen
The world is getting more woke now. People are more conscious about what they are wearing, what they are eating and how it is impacting the world.
So, a lot of people are dissociating from meat, leather and plastic.
Mushrooms are the perfect replacement for all of these.
The fashion industry is making faux leather clothes and replacing plastic bags with mushroom bags, making sustainability sexy.
Even designers as huge as Stella McCartney are now working with mushroom leather, making it mainstream.
Meanwhile, the food industry that is constantly looking for ways to turn people vegan, is making delicious and healthy vegan mushroom meat.
Another industry that is interested in this fungi? Pharmaceuticals.
Ever since we found out that a fungus made the world's first antibiotic, penicillin, scientists have been crazy about mushrooms. And they have discovered some super cool facts: mushrooms can help fight cancer, boost your immunity, help with anti-ageing, memory, focus, sleep, and almost every problem under the Sun.
And magic mushrooms or shrooms are now even being used to help cure depression.
Magic mushrooms are considered narcotics as they can cause hallucinations, but given in small doses they can help treat depression and anxiety faster than traditional medicines.
So, you see, a lot of our industries can get a boost if we begin mushroom cultivation on scale.
And we do have a lot of cheap labour and different varieties of mushrooms growing here to facilitate this. Jammu and Kashmir alone have over a 100 varieties of mushrooms.
But the task isn't as easy as it sounds.
🤨 The Problems with Mushroom Cultivation
Mushrooms need to grow in cool and moist climates, so very few places in India are suitable for growing mushrooms.
While we could create greenhouses that allow them to grow everywhere year wide, this will take significant investment.
And the main problem with mushrooms is that there are just so many varieties. Many have not even been discovered yet.
So, farmers will need to be properly taught to identify and cultivate mushrooms.
A lot of research and development will also be required to understand the true uses of these mushrooms.
Right now, India grows only 2% of the world's mushroom supply. Can you guess who grows the other 75%?
Our neighbour China, who wants to have a monopoly over everything.
So, we have nowhere to go but upwards. This could be another sector where India can beat China and take on a majority of this market.
But will we be able to achieve this goal?
⚡In a line: Mushrooms can help our farmers earn an extra income and help our pharmaceutical industry and exports grow.
💡Quick question: What other crops do you think have the potential to make India an export hub?
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