The Mushroom Enterprise Zimbabwe: Welcome everyone to the MushRent blog where I trus...

The Mushroom Enterprise Zimbabwe: Welcome everyone to the MushRent blog where I trus...: "Welcome everyone to the MushRent blog where I trust you will be able to get more information about profitably growing Mushrooms and selling ..."

challenges in the mushroom industry in Zimbabwe

There are a number of challenges we face as mushroom growers in Zimbabwe by mentioning them here I
hope I will get feedback from you on how we can solve some of these things.

1. Bogus trainers: we have too many bogus trainers, the worst I have seen do not grow mushrooms and
just give theoretical training, its so sad, this has led to many challenges we have to face, due to such training, we have
people who have lost confidence in the industry. Some of the trainers seem to have never read a
mushroom growing book or at least read an article because what they teach is simply dangerous. There are
so many people whom when I talk to tell me they need potato sacks to grow oyster mushrooms, I am not sure who
popularised the idea, I am not saying its wrong, but the point is it seems when he/she trained he/she taught
one method and its not the best and it seems to me the trainer did not research well, many people have lost money to these trainers firstly by paying to be trained secondly
applying methods that are outdated or which do not work, this challenge is not only peculiar to Zimbabwe but
it is common across Africa.

 I supplied spawn to an orphanage in Karoi, due to negligence and poor training they did not do so well, as is common people quickly shift the blame to the spawn supplier so they took the spawn to the nearest mushroom grower who quickly concluded that it was "fake", what was  clear is the grower was not told spawn can come in different forms or spawn can be on sawdust or any other material, this goes back to my point on poor trainers.

2. Lack of a growers association, this challenge is linked to the above as the association can regulate growers and trainers and bring back order, an association is very important to the growth of the industry, There are a lot of inconsistencies that we need to address and they can only be addressed if we join hands, for this reason I have joined others in the quest to form the association you can phone me or visit our group on face book: Mushroom Growers Zimbabwe if you want to join or get more information on what progress we have made in that endeavour.

I will talk of other challenges in future posts:

Poisonous mushroom: facts and myths in Zimbabwe

As a mushroom enthusiast, I am concerned with the fear that many people have for mushrooms, most people I meet just have fear of the mushrooms even if they can not explain why they are afraid, I usually ask people, do you have a friend or a relative who died of mushroom poisoning?, I have only met one lady who had a brother who died of mushroom poisoning since I started mushroom growing in 2003. Before I go on with this subject let me state that all cultivated mushrooms are safe. The subject of poisonous mushrooms only comes into picture when we talk of wild mushrooms. I have learnt that what people usually talk of are just myths. In the wild there are poisonous mushrooms and non poisonous mushrooms, if you can not identify which is edible and non edible you are recommended not to venture into mushroom hunting, let experts do that(in Zimbabwe the experts are usually the old people or those who have received the knowledge from such people). If you are buying mushrooms on the roadside you better be sure of the type you are buying or you are putting your life in the hands of the one who gathered. Let me also state the danger of  mushroom poisoning  is generally overstated, out of all those who consume mushrooms only a small percentage eat the poisonous ones compared to the edible ones.  I have only read two reports of poisoning in the last two years, there might be some unreported cases, the reported cases I managed to pick in the press give me an average that does not exceed people per year(this is an average I have come up considering reported cases I heard of or read-for the past five years). Statistically how many people die from road accidents per week, but people are not afraid to travel-the conclusion the fear is propagated by myths especially the myth that mushrooms growing under gum trees are all poisonous such that before a person buys mushroom they ask you are there not grown near gum trees (I will talk about how this myth developed in Zimbabwe In my future posts.
My advise to those who want go for mushroom hunting, go with an experienced person, this reduces the risk, the most safe way is to buy mushrooms from your local supermarket or directly from a grower near you, as I mentioned earlier - cultivated mushrooms are 100% safe. The bookshops have what are generally called field guides to mushrooms/mushroom hunting, my advise is those books are good but must never be trusted solely, relying on a field guide may be fatal, its better to go with someone experienced and then compare with the filed guide(descriptions may not be enough, colours may not be clear in the field guide and some mushrooms change colour as they grow, a good guide explains where to get the mushroom, arrangement of gills, colour, if the mushroom has a volva, a ring, structure of the stem and cap.

this post is not exhaustive I just touched on a few things, so be careful poisonous mushrooms exist.

secrets of successful mushroom growing

Well there are not much secrets to mushroom growing, I believe mushroom growing is both an art and a science. I have seen many growers try to reinvent the wheel. I will pursue the topic of secret of mushroom growing in the future but today I just want to say mushroom growing is the science of eliminating contamination.

Contamination does so many things on a farm I will just mention a few today.

a)    Reduces yield: contamination reduces yields like in a conventional farm people remove weeds as these compete for nutrients with the desired crop, so contamination are fungi or bacteria competing with your mushroom mycelia for nutrients, so I will call contamination “weeds”. Eliminate “weeds” or at least keep the percentage low, besides reducing yields contamination can wipe out the whole crop before you even harvest, so watch out, green mold is our top enemy which at times start disguised as mushroom mycelia, it takes an experienced farmer to identify green mold in its initial stages unless it just start off green.
b)    It affects future crops: once there is an outbreak of contamination then you are sure it will always recur and affect future crops, how you dispose contaminated media is crucial, the best is to sterilize the media before dumping, cleaning the rooms is key to its total elimination
c)    Slows down growth: some contamination slows down growth in such cases its usually not visible to the naked eye such that growers will not even know there is contamination, this will effect on yields eventually
Whatever you do keep the “weeds” out and be profitable

How to start growing mushrooms?

So many people call me wanting to start mushroom growing most of whom due to folklore think that you can “plant” mushrooms today and then start harvesting the following day or that it’s an easy thing to do. If you think of growing mushrooms get training and the best is to get a consultant who can take you through all the stages. It takes a lot of reading to be a good farmer. Then there are those who do not want to pay training and consultancy fees and go it alone, my experience tells me 99% of them fail. There are some who request to come and visit and see how I do it, I have been too generous I allow them to take a farm walk most of the ones who visited me will go quite and never call me, I guess for two reasons a) some just hear mushroom growing and think its easy, so when they see what it takes they give up b) some when they visit and see how we are doing it, go and do it on their own and I know most just have the first crop and give up. It takes innovation, creativity and commitment to study. My advice for now is online “how to” articles are good but they need to be adapted to the local environment and conditions. I know many people try to cut corners and get training from inexperienced trainers- that’s also a good recipe for failure. In my future doses I will write how to grow mushrooms type by type,
Whatever you do keep it profitable.

Cashflow challenges for mushroom growers

The talk these days in Zimbabwe is liquidity challenges facing all industries in the country, well this is not an economics blog, will just touch on economics in one way or the other, I know mushroom growers are no exception to this challenge especially taking into consideration that over 90% of sales are credit sales mainly to supermarkets and hotels. At Mushtella we believe in helping you solve challenges of cash flow in various ways, first we have done research into low cost production systems so that the price gets lower, we have different packages to suit all your needs depending on your cash flow. You don’t have to stop spawning because you don’t have spawn, our prices are now ranging from $1.80 - $3 per kg send me refer to our brochure for details or call me for details, $ 3 is for those buying on terms our packages are very flexible taking into consideration of the liquidity challenges. May all growers note that all orders are subject to a 50% deposit. Our spawn is not only limited to those in Zimbabwe but we also export.

Spawn quality

The quality of spawn is very crucial to you as a mushroom grower for the following reasons
a)    Good quality spawn means quick colonization, if colonisation is fast chances of contamination are reduced by a high percentage,
b)    High yields: when colonization is fast, contamination Is reduced and the colony is dense and that guarantees good yields if all other conditions are maintained.

lighter note

I heard this from my friend who was selling spawn: a lady bought spawn, she came after some time to buy more but she had a complaint, the mushrooms never came out, it is upon that my friend had to investigate why, thats when he was told the lady had made a bed in her garden and applied manure then she "planted" the spawn into the soil. I laghed my heart out, for those who dont know how mushrooms are grown: - mushrooms are not grown in soil while soil might be used at a later stage in the production cyle of some types, get trainning before you venture into the business, the lady was then given the information on how to grow mushrooms.

Spawn & Training for non governmental organisations

We have a special package for all community mushroom cultivation projects or other projects that are supported by non governmental organisations spawn will be sold at $2 per kg and training will be offered at $20 per person this is a social responsibility project.

Growing manuals

I have seen people failing in growing mushrooms so many times, one of the challenges is that growers are reading too many material on the internet and foreign books without realizing that it works in the country the person is writing from and there e is need to change things to suit ones own environment and available materials, for instance sawdust is available in abundance in other countries whilst in Zimbabwe its not easily available.

To overcome this challenge I have written manuals that cater for mainly the Zimbabwe growers whilst they can be read in general by those in other r countries. I have manuals for button and oyster($25 each) and the spawn production manual going for $50 get in touch and improve your business, making your own spawn helps to reduce costs, get in touch and I can help you start your own spawn laboratory.

Spawn

Something is happening in the mushroom industry, we are re-launching our spawn to the Zimbabwean, we are offering spawn at low prices this has not been done in the country, we have been researching on how we can reduce costs on spawn production so that farmers can earn higher incomes especially in this winter when mushroom prices go down, farmers will definitely need low input cost especially spawn which constitute the highest percentage on the cost of production for most growers. Further research is underway to further reduce cost on spawn and on bag production and we will be giving more information to farmers, keep checking for more details. Spawn will be sold at $2.50(10% discount per kg for purchases exceeding 100 kgs), $2 for community projects.