When we visit Jisimamie, a community based group in Kakamega County, they are planting mushrooms.
The scotching mid-day sun does not dampen the spirits of the group based in a remote village in Lurambi.
The group of 25, started this venture in 2009 after their sugarcane and maize projects flopped.
“Since we are village mates and friends, we started off as a chama and pulled our resources to do some farming projects together. We tried our hand in maize and sugarcane but they all gave us poor results. Our maize was also attacked by the MLN disease. We settled on mushrooms because it had a ready market and matured fast,” says Charles Omanyo the chairperson of the group.The group applied for a Sh50,000 loan from Women Enterprise Fund and combined it with their savings.
“It was not easy starting off because we faced a lot of ridicule. In this region, mushroom grows in bushes and anyone selling the crop is seen as a joker. But we soldiered on,” Omanyo tells Smart Harvest.
The group cultivates oyster mushrooms which thrives in tropical climate. Omanyo says since they embraced mushroom farming, the gains are immense.
Need support
Unlike plants, which grow from seeds, mushrooms grow from microscopic spores that take root in a substrate, or growing medium. The group grows the mushrooms in 12 structures, housed in various members’ homes.
“We usually harvest around 1kg of mushroom from each substrate which fetches roughly Sh2,000 for dried mushroom and Sh400 for fresh ones. After maturity, you can continuously harvest after every three days for three months. This translates to 30 kg per substrate hence Sh60,000,” he says.
The group supplies their produce to institutions and supermarkets, but they cannot meet the demand.
“Can you believe the demand for mushrooms in the region is so high we cannot meet it because we lack capacity? There are organisations which give us huge orders which we cannot meet because we do not have the capacity. We have tried to seek help from the Kakamega County Government without much success,” the chair laments.
For now the group, works with what they have.
Planting mushrooms
For one to plant mushrooms, they need substrate which comprises crop remains, water solution, sugar, lime and chick mash to add nutrients.
“For us we use bagasse (the fibre remnants of sugar cane after it has been crushed to extract the juice) because it easily available. We use molasses to add sugar. Mushroom is a fungi and it needs sugar to grow healthy and faster. Lime is for sticking the contents together and chick mash add nutrients. We mix the contents and packaging them while they are moist,” he explains.
The substrate is then packaged in transparent plastic bags to allow light which is needed for germination.
“We then tie the substrate with a rubber band and steam it to sterilise and destroy germs. We cool it and the following day we plant the spawns (mushroom seedlings). During planting, we open the substrate, insert a pipe 1 inch long into the substrate to allow fresh air,” says Omanyo.
The substrate is then put in a dark house to allow colonisation (growth of fungi which happens better in a dark place).
“This process takes around 21 to 28 days. Once a creamish colour covers the substrate, it indicates the process has been successful. We now open the substrate, remove the tubes and unfold the paper half way. We then expose the substrate to air and light to allow the fungi to sprout,” says Omanyo.
“After five days, the fungi develops into mushrooms. It take one to three days and it will ready for harvesting. We continue to harvest continuously for three days but we also spray water on the substrate twice a day to ensure continuous growth.”
Promising as mushroom farming maybe, the group still encounters some challenges. Most locals still lack the knowledge on how healthy and nutritious the crop is.
He adds: “Selling fresh mushrooms is a challenge because the market prefers dried ones. During rainy season, most of our produce rot as we lack a drying machine. The prices of seedling has also shot up and at times the crops are attacked by pests, snails and rats. Because we do organic farming we avoid the use of pesticides to manage such,” he says.
Future plans?
“We hope the county will buy for us cold a storage facility and a machine for drying the crop. This will enable us increase our yield to meet the market demand. In five years, we expect every member to have their own structure for mushroom growing,” says the chair.
