PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF QUALITY MUSHROOM SUPPLY FOR DOMESTIC MARKET

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out problems of mushroom production and marketing of different stakeholders in Bangladesh and find out the ways of improving mushroom marketing system for domestic markets. Lack of capital, poor quality seed, insect attack, high temperature in summer, inability to choose right variety, low temperature in winter, inappropriate trimming of production and heavy rainfall are the major problems during production. And high transportation cost, lack of promotion, large number of middlemen, limited wholesale market, absence of market place and absence of storage facilities are the major problems during marketing. The study was conducted in Savarupazila under Dhaka district. Data were collected from randomly selected 121 farmers using an interview schedule. The relationships between socio-demographic determinants and the outcome were examined by the using Two-way contingency tables and the Pearson’s chi-squared test. Each independent variable was compared individually against the dependent variable to test for an interaction. Of the Determinants, those were found to be associated with the outcome in the bivariate analysis with p <0.001 were later included in the multivariate logistic regression to evaluate independent effects. Finally, a multivariate technique named as logistic regression analysis is used to investigate the associations between each predictor variable and the outcome variable of the respondents. The result was presented as odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI). SPSS v20.0 software was used for data analysis. And effective policy regarding mushroom cultivation and marketing, government incentives and capital at low interest rate, promotion by government and NGOs, removing middlemen, proper monitoring, training for the growers, and expansion of market are the major findings as suggestions to improve the mushroom marketing system for domestic markets.