India is one of the leading producers of rice and wheat in the world, but this has also come with its own set of problems due to the mismanagement of the agricultural waste produced during the cultivation of these crops. The Government of India has put forward several initiatives to solve this problem, one of which is the use of agricultural waste in mushroom cultivation. Although mushroom cultivation is a highly lucrative business, farmers have been facing difficulty in entering this field due to high initial investments and production costs. 

Equipment such as humidifiers are usually imported and are currently difficult to acquire due to import restrictions introduced by the Government of India. Currently, there are no companies in India that produce and sell equipment for small-scale mushroom farmers. Most companies cater toward large-scale industrial farms leaving a gap in the market.

Currently, if a farmer wanted to take up mushroom cultivation as a profession, then:

• He/She would have to source the materials for grow room construction.

• He/She would need to outsource the development of necessary equipment due to lack of availability in the local market.

• Find a suitable buyer for their produce as their production may range from a few hundred grams to a few Kgs per day. 

• All of these are tedious tasks for a single farmer, and most farmers quit this profession because of these reasons.

• Equipment such as humidifiers are usually imported and are currently difficult to acquire due to import restrictions introduced by the Government of India.

We have come up with a low-cost, smart grow room setup that can reduce the time spent on the maintenance of the grow room. A portable grow room that can be easily dismantled and can produce all the necessary environmental conditions for the good growth of the mushrooms. The grow room includes:

• Timer actuated irrigation system.
• Temperature and humidity controller through ultrasonic humidification.
• Timer actuated intake and exhaust system.
• Creating market traction by introducing buy-back policies.

• Pre-incubated at K-tech NAIN center and I2E labs.

• Incubated at ICREATE Ahmedabad.

• Received grant of Rs. 50,000 from spark-up fund of ICREATE Ahmedabad.

• Received prototyping reimbursement of Rs. 20,000 from Cisco Thingqubator.

• Semifinalist at TIE Pitch Fest.

• Semifinalist at Manthan 2022.

SDG sector:

• No Poverty
• Good health and well-being.