A New Perspective
My mother owns a 1,000 square yard plot in Defence Housing Authority (D.H.A.) Phase 8, Karachi. According to the good people at website zameen.com, the rough price range for the property is between PKR 7 crore & PKR 8 crore (approximately between US$7 million & US$8 million). There is some confusion in the minds of the gentlemen currently running D.H.A Karachi as to payment of development fees, even though no development has been done there so far; but that is a tiny misunderstanding that can be cleared up quite easily. After all, nobody in his right mind would want red tape to get in the way of real business.
Anyway, I was thinking about the fact that Karachi already has more glamorous housing schemes & gaudy shopping malls than the average Karachiite knows what to do with. The majority of the population of Karachi are factory workers & small business owners; in addition, Karachi being a port city means that most folks (rich or poor) are very oriented towards the concept of marketable goods. The commitment to commerce is entrenched in the local culture to such an extent that even the business of constructing sprawling housing schemes is mostly left to Army-related franchises such as D.H.A., which are more comfortable in the non-competitive world of inelastic goods than the lightning-fast arena of commodities trading & commercial services.
However, it is always a good idea to look for options that involve deriving a profit from a marketable product instead of simply settling for the relatively-sedate approach of constructing a shoebox & putting it on rent. Economics 101. This principle lead me to wonder whether there was a way to save the environmentally-vital mangrove swamps of Karachi & make a profit at the same time?
Market Niche
Edible mushrooms are a very interesting species. They contain a diverse array of nutrients ranging from the B vitamins (folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin & thiamine) to a number of minerals (copper, iron, potassium, phosphorus & selenium). But the most important ingredient is Vitamin D. What makes the version of Vitamin D in mushrooms so unique is that if you eat ordinary D-rich edibles, you still need a certain amount of exposure to the sun before the vitamin can work at full strength; however, the mushroom version comes ready-made - no sunning required! The Australians weren't kidding when they said that mushrooms are the ultimate winter health food.
Mushrooms are a well-known crop in Pakistan: the hilly areas of Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Punjab concentrate on Black Morel mushrooms; the desert & mountain areas of Sindh mostly grow Khumbi mushrooms; & Khamiri is the most popular variety of mushroom in Balochistan. Mushrooms are a very profitable food crop & appreciated for their nutritive value world over. So wouldn't it be wonderful if they were the answer to the environmental degradation taking place as a result of the uncontrolled construction underway in Karachi?
Illustrative Case Study
A variation of the following report was published by the "Action for Protection of Wild Animals" (APOWA) NGO branch in Orissa, India. The original report is titled "Mushroom farming changes lives of mangrove dependent families of Narasinghpur village" & can be found at http://apowa.org.in/case-studies-2/mushroom-farming/:
"Orissa is prone to natural disasters. Cyclones & floods are annual occurrences in the coastal villages. During the last 30 years, the coastal climate has changed to a great extent & the rainy season has extended to almost half the year. Low pressures in the Bay of Bengal have been more frequent in an unusual pattern, posing threats to the life & livelihood of the communities living in coastal villages. Narasinghpur is one of the coastal villages of Kendrapara District, which struggles to meet their families' basic needs with very limited resources. Many are recent immigrants or refugees. The poor families here had a miserable life until the recent past, but courtesy mushroom farming & the project support of APOWA, a great many of them are now an economically empowered lot. Earlier dependent on the mangrove forest, they are now in a position to provide their children a better education.
'Mushroom farming has changed my life.' Says Kamala Jana of Narasinghpur Village. She has called her husband back from Kerala. Now, he helps her in mushroom farming, & the couple manages to earn a handsome amount. While Kamala grows mushrooms, her husband does the marketing. 'With my husband back home, I have got hands for marketing.' Kamala, a mother of 4, says.
Kamala is not alone. Very similar is the case of Kanchanbala of the same village, who is the wife of a daily laborer; she now has more money in hand, & is smoothly managing her family through mushroom farming.
This became possible when APOWA started the project & conducted several training programs in Narasinghpur Village, which included inviting agriculture experts from Krushi Vigyan Kendra (Kendrapara District). These training programs have encouraged women to step out of their homes & launch their own ventures. The project also offered support to mangrove-dependent families in the form of an initial batch of mushroom seeds & basic market linkages.
Following the success of mushroom cultivation, APOWA is making efforts to popularize its farming model further. APOWA is encouraging mushroom-growers to form groups & strive towards conserving & restoring the nearby mangrove forests.
'Mushroom farming & the support of APOWA has been a blessing for us. Now, the nearby villagers request us to teach them the methods of mushroom farming.' Says Kalipada Maity, the President of Maa Sitala Mangrove Action Group of Narasinghpur Village."
"Orissa is prone to natural disasters. Cyclones & floods are annual occurrences in the coastal villages. During the last 30 years, the coastal climate has changed to a great extent & the rainy season has extended to almost half the year. Low pressures in the Bay of Bengal have been more frequent in an unusual pattern, posing threats to the life & livelihood of the communities living in coastal villages. Narasinghpur is one of the coastal villages of Kendrapara District, which struggles to meet their families' basic needs with very limited resources. Many are recent immigrants or refugees. The poor families here had a miserable life until the recent past, but courtesy mushroom farming & the project support of APOWA, a great many of them are now an economically empowered lot. Earlier dependent on the mangrove forest, they are now in a position to provide their children a better education.
'Mushroom farming has changed my life.' Says Kamala Jana of Narasinghpur Village. She has called her husband back from Kerala. Now, he helps her in mushroom farming, & the couple manages to earn a handsome amount. While Kamala grows mushrooms, her husband does the marketing. 'With my husband back home, I have got hands for marketing.' Kamala, a mother of 4, says.
Kamala is not alone. Very similar is the case of Kanchanbala of the same village, who is the wife of a daily laborer; she now has more money in hand, & is smoothly managing her family through mushroom farming.
This became possible when APOWA started the project & conducted several training programs in Narasinghpur Village, which included inviting agriculture experts from Krushi Vigyan Kendra (Kendrapara District). These training programs have encouraged women to step out of their homes & launch their own ventures. The project also offered support to mangrove-dependent families in the form of an initial batch of mushroom seeds & basic market linkages.
Following the success of mushroom cultivation, APOWA is making efforts to popularize its farming model further. APOWA is encouraging mushroom-growers to form groups & strive towards conserving & restoring the nearby mangrove forests.
'Mushroom farming & the support of APOWA has been a blessing for us. Now, the nearby villagers request us to teach them the methods of mushroom farming.' Says Kalipada Maity, the President of Maa Sitala Mangrove Action Group of Narasinghpur Village."
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