However, somewhere deep inside, Mathew harboured an intense emotional attachment to his homeland. Beyond money and luxury, Mathew dreamed of the lush green paddy fields of his birthplace, Thalayolaparambu, the unique fragrance rising from the soil during the mid-year monsoon rains (Idavappaathi), and the innocent love of his fellow villagers. This ultimately led Mathew to a bold decision.
In a single moment, he abandoned his secure global career and a salary running into lakhs. Carrying only his dreams close to his heart, he flew back to his homeland. His desire to return to the soil and leave his unique footprint in his village bloomed beautifully. What started as an Oyster Mushroom farm with just 100 substrate beds in a tiny space of 250 square feet has today flourished into a massive 2,000 square-foot high-tech farm with a capacity of 6,000 beds.

From a Spark to a Passion

Upon returning home, while Mathew was searching for a suitable lifestyle that aligned closely with nature, he happened to visit the local Krishi Bhavan (Agricultural Office). Recognizing Mathew’s affinity for agriculture and nature, as well as his business acumen, the agricultural officers presented the idea of mushroom cultivation to him.
The scientist within Mathew was awakened the moment he realized that beyond the hazardous facets of microorganisms like fungi, there existed a beneficial and wonderful world. It soon transformed into a deep passion. What followed was a period of intense experimentation. He began his trials by gathering maximum knowledge from the field and undergoing various training programs provided by the Agriculture Department. With financial assistance from the Department of Agriculture, he constructed a mushroom shed capable of holding one hundred beds and commenced cultivation. Like a father caring for his newborn baby, he tended to those beds day and night.

Overcoming the First Hurdle

Although he waited anxiously to see a great miracle unfold, the harvest rewarded him with nothing but disappointment. In place of the massive harvest Mathew expected, nature offered him a mere 200 grams of mushrooms! It wasn’t even enough to fill a small teacup. He also witnessed various unpredictable tantrums of nature.
However, Mathew was not ready to back down. Determined to fight his way through, Mathew eventually walked up the steps of success. In that meagre 200-gram yield, he did not see failure, but rather the embers of his future success. The question of why he failed became an obsession. He turned his home into a scientific laboratory. During sleepless nights, through books, internet research, and meticulous experiments, he unlocked the secrets of mushroom growth one by one.
Mathew realized that the harsh heat and humidity of Kerala were draining the life out of his mushrooms. He decided to apply his engineering knowledge here. Taking a major financial risk, he invested ₹5 lakhs to independently build a state-of-the-art “Fan and Pad” evaporative cooling system. Equipped with systems to easily monitor and instantly rectify climate fluctuations, this unit managed to artificially replicate the cool, hillside climate of Ooty and Kodaikanal right in the middle of the hot Thalayolaparambu village.

The Technological Revolution & Scale-Up

That technological revolution turned out to be a massive success! Step by step, his small room grew into a mammoth high-tech farm with 6,000 mushroom beds. The sight of mushrooms blooming simultaneously across 6,000 beds every three months was nothing short of a marvel. His business grew to such an extent that he began spending a thousand rupees daily just to buy mushroom spawn.

However, procuring spawn worth a thousand rupees daily from the market and ensuring its quality became a major challenge. On top of it all, there was a severe shortage of mushroom spawn in the market. Even when facing losses worth lakhs right before his eyes, Mathew refused to surrender. To avoid depending on anyone else, he brought out his engineering prowess and established a state-of-the-art Spawn Production Unit right on his farm at a very low cost. He put an end to his frantic search in the market and produced the finest quality seeds himself.
Witnessing Mathew’s extraordinary fighting spirit and hard work first-hand, the Agriculture Department officials assisted him by providing a substantial government subsidy to start a packing unit to properly package and market the mushrooms.

Conquering the Market with “Healthy Whites”

Soon, Mathew’s beautifully packaged mushrooms conquered not just the local markets of Thalayolaparambu, but also major supermarkets in the cities. The mushrooms are brought to the market under the brand name “Healthy Whites”.

Mathew recalls that since oyster mushrooms are highly perishable, the unsold packets returned from supermarkets were initially a major headache. Marketing remains a tough nut to crack, which continues to trouble Mathew to some extent. Based on the realization that nearly 30% of the mushrooms were being returned from shops, he began thinking about value-added products.
This is where Mathew decided to utilize the culinary expertise of his wife, who had proven skills in this area. That is how around twenty different value-added products were trialed, and these products became highly popular across various platforms. They started making a variety of items such as Cutlets, Unniyappam, Momos, Payasam, Soup,Mushroom Manchurian, Cakes, Buns, Pickles etc. Along with this, the family has entered the final stages of standardizing six different products, including health mixes and cookies made from dried mushroom powder.

In addition to this, he shifted gears into cultivating Milky Mushrooms, which are fleshier and have a longer shelf life, finding success there as well. By converting the mushroom beds prepared with pellets into compost, he also created a “Zero Wastage” miracle. A noteworthy achievement is that this fully fulfilled the organic fertilizer requirements for the agricultural crops at his home.

An Inspiration to all Mushroom farmers…..

The role of precise scientific training behind the success of this venture is immense. Sponsored and organized by the Kerala State Horticulture Mission, Mathew was selected as one of the farmers to undergo advanced training at the renowned Directorate of Mushroom Research (DMR) in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Mathew gratefully remembers that the excellent training received there helped him understand the subtle, intricate nuances of mushroom cultivation. Mathew also proudly recalls the timely intervention and support of the Agriculture Department officials, which is highly commendable.

The expatriate youth who returned home with nothing but a dream is an inspiration to the farmers of Kerala today. When his foreign technical expertise combined with his boundless love for his homeland, mushroom cultivation became a viable livelihood for Mathew in just 20 months. Through his passion for farming and scientific care, production increased exponentially.
Building a vast mushroom empire of 6,000 beds from a mere 200 grams of initial harvest, this farm now delivers an average of 20 kg of mushrooms to the market daily. Mathew has shown the world that a person who refuses to accept defeat can harvest gold even from the soil. This entrepreneur’s message to everyone is that growing from a small start into a large enterprise was possible due to the right guidance from the Agriculture Department and the Horticulture Mission, and that anyone willing to work hard can build a phenomenal future in mushroom cultivation.