ICAR-IIHR has been conducting in person end to end hands on Entrepreneurship training on mushroom technology since more than 2 decades. However, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic these hands-on trainings had to be stopped temporarily. Owing to the current circumstances, ICAR-IIHR adopted the online delivery format to support the very high demand for training. Although mushroom technology is a highly practical oriented skill, it was challenging to formulate and develop an online module which could be as close to the hands-on experience as possible. ICAR-IIHR developed a specialized online module integrating power point lecture visuals and relevant stepwise practical videos for better understanding. The module comprised of lectures and videos on mushroom spawn production, mushroom production technology of 6 commercial varieties of mushrooms, post-harvest management and value addition of mushrooms, mechanization and mushroom machinery, farm layout and structures, sanitation package for organic production of mushrooms, marketing and entrepreneurship through ancillary mushroom activities, information on lesser known mushrooms with high future potential and financial assistance for mushroom projects through various agencies. Mushroom technology as an inclusive technology for specially abled people and ways and means of utilizing this technology as a social enterprise for rural sector, women, marginalized sector was also a part of discussion. The course was designed for 6 days and was conducted from 02nd to 07th Nov 2020. The schedule comprised of 5 hours of online theory and integrated videos on practical each day. Thirty hours of lectures were delivered. Ninety candidates from 17 different states participated in the program.
