Rang De Partners with Mission Samriddhi to Empower Mushroom Farmers in TN

Rang De, India's first peer-to-peer social investing platform, has launched the Mushroom Fund in partnership with social impact organization Mission Samriddhi. This specialty investment fund aims to assist underserved farmers in Tamil Nadu in generating long-term revenue from mushroom growing.

During the first year, 40 farmers in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal area will receive help, allowing them to earn a minimum of Rs.8,000 per month. Founded in 2008 and an RBI-registered NBFC P2P since September 2019, Rang De is a social lending platform that enables social investors to invest in farmers or rural entrepreneurs of their choice while earning a return on their investment.

The Mushroom Fund is a special investment option that will enable mushroom farmers from Tamil Nadu while offering social investors a return of up to 8% per annum after an 18-month tenure. The fund has already raised close to Rs. 35 lakhs from 290+ social investors. The funds will be disbursed to mushroom farmers for the construction of a mushroom shed and providing working capital for the first 18 months of mushroom cultivation.

The Mushroom Fund combines on-ground impact and returns to social investors. Mushroom farming is a sustainable and lucrative activity for small and marginal farmers across India as it takes up relatively lesser space and lesser resources. This fund is a push to support this underrated crop.

Commenting on the announcement, Smita Ram, CEO Rang De, "Our team is thrilled to partner with Mission Samridhi to create a tailored investment opportunity for farmers who are interested in venturing or are already working in mushroom cultivation. Mushrooms are a crop that requires very little space and water to grow and can be harvested in just three weeks. With the demand for healthy foods on the rise, we are confident that this partnership will enable more farmers to reap the benefits of this crop.”

According to a recent report, India produced 17,100 metric tonnes of mushrooms in 2013-14, which increased to 4,87,000 MT by 2018. From 2010-2017, the mushroom industry in India grew at an average growth rate of 4.3% per annum. With this in mind, the project aims to help farmers earn more than Rs.20,000 per month within 18 months.

“Mission Samriddhi is pleased to partner with Rang De to catalyze a sustainable livelihood initiative through Mushroom farming for about 40 small farmers in Namakkal District which we are hopeful will scale across all our Tamilnadu Clusters eventually.”, says Ram Pappu, Executive Director, Mission Samriddhi.

Overall, mushroom farming is a boon to small and marginal farmers looking for a solid source of sustained income. Not only is it a sustainable development practice, but the increase in income because of the price good mushrooms command in the market can also truly be a game-changer for Indian farmers.