Shimla: Introduced as a cash crop to supplement the meagre income of farmers from small landholdings, mushroom cultivation has started suffering a decline over the past three years. The official data published in the economic review reveals that the production has declined from 4,318 tonnes in 2006-07 to 3,417 tonnes in 2008-09, a decline of almost 20 per cent. With drought severely affecting the wheat crop in the last rabi season, the production is likely to come down significantly as prices of wheat straw, the main raw material for making compost, have shot up. However, the main factor behind the declining trend is attributed to the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Yojna (MNREGY). The programme may have benefited the unemployed youth in the hill state, but its implementation elsewhere in the country is having a negative impact on mushroom cultivation. As such, there is a little possibility of achieving the target of 6,000 tonnes fixed several years ago. The main reason for it is that the compost-making units in the state have been procuring wheat straw from the neighbouring Punjab where farmers have been forced to switchover from manual to mechanised harvesting due to shortage migrant labour. The MNREGY in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has severely affected the availability of migrant labour in the region. Waste generated by combined harvesters is burnt and hardly any wheat straw is available for compost units. Consequently, the price of wheat straw has been increasing and, in turn, the cost of making compost has gone up from Rs 5.50 to Rs 9 per kg. The increase in input cost has also affected the government