As part of the Skills4Life Program, the Dzongkhag conducted a fundamental three-day training session on mushroom cultivation for ESP/GSP staff from July 5th to 7th, 2023, at Mongar HSS, coinciding with school summer break. Following the training's culmination, all 16 participants were given three blocks of mushroom growing bags each, which they personally prepared during the training, aligning with Dasho Dzongdag's advice for vigilant progress monitoring. On top of the training lessons, the participants created a telegram group with the trainer, Mr. Sonam Gyeltshen, Samsara Farming, who is a youth entrepreneur and a professional mushroom grower based at Kalapang, Mongar. He generously extended advice and recommendations to each participant, ensuring optimal conditions were met. After a dedicated span of weeks tending to their crops, the participants joyfully reaped their inaugural mushroom harvest. Despite the typical belief that these mushrooms thrive solely in cold temperatures, even participants in Gyalpoizhing observed a modest yield, sufficient for a family meal. Several participants even managed to sell a few kilograms of mushrooms in the market after their personal consumption.
Presently, the participants are eagerly experiencing their second fruiting phase.