Upheaving Livelihood Avenues through Mushroom Cultivation: Assessment of Knowledge Domain in Trainees of Malappuram District as Training Effectiveness Indicator

Mushroom cultivation as an enterprise seeks to circumvent constraints of land availability reining the livelihood opportunities. Capacity building programme on cultivation of oyster and milky mushroom was conducted for farmers of Malappuram district, Kerala to inculcate entrepreneurial urge. Data from ninety trainees of two batches were analysed to assess their knowledge gain on various aspects of mushroom cultivation. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the data on socio economic profile and a knowledge test was conducted to measure the change in knowledge employing a before-after method of comparison. The comparison testified a significant improvement in the knowledge domain of the trainees with respect to mushroom cultivation. Maximum gain in knowledge (94.44% and 93.33%) was observed for harvesting practices of mushrooms and identification of mushroom species, respectively. The study thus suggests training is a pivotal activity to improve the knowledge component, which serves as a spring board for their entrepreneurial endeavours in mushroom.