Priyadarshini and Chamila first found out about mushroom farming from a mother of a friend of their son. A relative of theirs in Nuwara Eliya was also cultivating mushrooms and encouraged them to try it out. “Somehow it felt to us like a good idea to try it” says Priyadarshini. Her husband contacted the local agriculture department and found them to be very encouraging. “They immediately offered to train us, and gave us the initial expertise we needed to start,” says Chamila. It was three to four months after that that the couple connected with GAFSO and the INSPIRED program.
While the program helped them in terms of streamlining their business processes, their best innovation occurred in the area of marketing and was developed at the trade fair they attended. “This was the first time we interacted with customers face to face,” says Priyadarshini. The entire family came together to think about how best to market their products, and the solution they came up with was nothing short of brilliant. Realizing that the biggest barrier to selling more of their product was people’s lack of knowledge about how mushrooms can be eaten, Priyasarshini’s stall sold a staggering variety of delicious food made out of mushrooms. “It was a great success,” she says, adding with pride that her stall won first prize at the fair.
Mushrooms have traditionally only been eaten by foragers, and are thus not a popular food outside of urban areas in Sri Lanka. By hosting friends in their home, the couple have already created a thriving market in their village that has spread through word of mouth. Living in close proximity to several moniroty communities, they happily say how a traditionally rural Sinhala custom has spread among their Tamil and Muslim friends; “it makes us really happy to see people coming in search of us to buy mushrooms, they always ask for recipes when they leave!”. The couple takes an active approach to educate their customers on the benefits and possibilities of consuming mushrooms, a very smart strategy for long term growth.