During the initial phase, 40 farmers located in the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu will receive assistance, enabling them to earn a minimum of Rs.8,000 monthly during the first year.
Rang De, a RBI-registered NBFC, is a social lending platform that enables social investors to invest in farmers or rural entrepreneurs of their choice while earning a return on their investment. The Mushroom Fund is a special investment option that will enable mushroom farmers from Tamil Nadu, while offering social investors a return of up to 8% per annum after an 18-month tenure. The fund has already raised close to Rs. 35 lakhs from 290 plus social investors.
The funds will be disbursed to mushroom farmers for the construction of a mushroom shed and providing working capital for the first 18 months of mushroom cultivation. The Mushroom Fund combines on-ground impact and returns to social investors. Mushroom farming is a sustainable and lucrative activity for small and marginal farmers across India as it takes up relatively lesser space and lesser resources. This fund is a push to support this underrated crop.
Commenting on the announcement, Smita Ram, CEO Rang De, “Mushrooms are a crop that requires very little space and water to grow and can be harvested in just three weeks. With the demand for healthy foods on the rise, we are confident that this partnership will enable more farmers to reap the benefits of this crop.”
According to a recent report, India produced 17,100 metric tonnes of mushrooms in 2013-14, which increased to 4,87,000 MT by 2018. From 2010-2017, the mushroom industry in India grew at an average growth rate of 4.3% per annum. With this in mind, the project aims to help farmers earn more than Rs.20,000 per month within 18 months.
“Mission Samriddhi is pleased to partner with Rang De to catalyze a sustainable livelihood initiative through Mushroom farming for about 40 small farmers in Namakkal District which we are hopeful will scale across all our Tamilnadu Clusters eventually.”, says Ram Pappu, Executive Director, Mission Samriddhi.