Business Idea: Haryana-Based Husband And Wife Clock Rs 9 Lakh Revenue Per Month With Mushroom Cultivation Business

For Haryana-based Sonia Dahiya, patience and hard work have been the secret to success for her flourishing mushroom cultivation business. What started as a passion evolved into a thriving business, generating substantial income for the assistant professor. Together with her husband, she founded the Doctor Dahiya Farm that produces a monthly output of 9 to 10 tonnes of mushrooms. Located in Sonipat, Haryana, the mushroom farm clocks a monthly revenue of Rs 9 lakhs. 

Sonia Dahiya, an assistant professor at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, started her own mushroom farming business during the COVID-19 pandemic. With her academic experience in biotechnology, she and her husband Vijay Dahiya set up mushroom units after conducting extensive research and market study. In 2020, the couple established the Doctor Dahiya Mushroom Farm, showcasing their expertise in the field of mushroom farming.

To set up the mushroom farm, Sonia and Vijay invested Rs 40 lakhs from their savings. They also received a state Horticulture Department subsidy. The entrepreneur couple first set up two mushroom growing rooms and later set up 5,600 mushroom bags in the rooms. Later, the couple set up a compost unit for Rs 20 lakhs. By 2022, the couple expanded their mushroom farming operations significantly by setting up two more growing rooms.

During the establishment of the mushroom farm, several obstacles came up. The first was the lack of steady output flow of mushrooms from the two growing units they began with. Second, they were not getting the desired results from the compost they were purchasing from the market. To solve these issues, Sonia set up a compost unit and two more growing rooms.

The farming entrepreneurs sell their mushrooms wholesale in Delhi's Azadpur Mandi. They also have numerous direct customers who purchase 50 kg of mushrooms daily. The couple caters to caterers, cooks, restaurants, dhabas and marriage banquet halls. 

The Doctor Dahiya Mushroom Farm offers button mushrooms, exotic mushrooms like portobello, oyster and milky mushrooms. Orders have to be placed in advance for exotic mushrooms. Sonia does not heavily market the products. The direct customers come from word-of-mouth publicity who buy from her due to the quality and taste of the mushrooms.

Sonia and Vijay provide regular mushroom training and consultancy workshops to aspiring farming entrepreneurs and students. These programmes cover button mushroom farming aspects like spawn procurement, cultivation processes and compost methodology.

Popularly known as the Mushroom Lady of Haryana, Sonia Dahiya is an advocate of women's financial independence and social status. She employs women in her mushroom business which generates stable employment for close to twenty women in the nearby village.

Sonia believes that the best course of action for a business is to get started right away. According to Sonia, starting a mushroom farming business is not too difficult and is a great option for anyone who does not want to work a full-time job.