It’s roughly two years since New Life in Africa came to life and has always depended on only the paper bead activities as a source of income for community sustainability. With many people making beads at the displaced Acholi quarter and outside the quarter, some times it takes a bit longer to get the buyers of these beads as there are more producers than buyers locally.
The bead foreign market is also seasonal and yet life has to go. So the community members thought of an alternative sustainable project to supplement Bead project and help make our community computer training and other center activities survive. For this reason, the community chose mushroom cultivation project because of having both local and international market and at the same time rich in nutritious valve which is good for the community.
WHY MUSHROOM?
Three weeks ago Peter Ndelo attended mushroom cultivation workshops at one of Uganda’s agricultural research centers. Within two days, He learnt and got interested in the mushroom project because of the many advantages surrounding it , like no arable land needed and simple science involved. Besides just , many people eat mushroom including the poor people which means our community is already the market source.
It used to be consumed only in big hotels and restaurants and imagine being imported from South Africa! When we contacted some super markets and some restaurants the feed back sounded encouraging. Guess what? If we produce at large scale plus proper packaging and publicity, am sure every body following this blog would subscribe to mushroom eating.
Being rich in nutritional valve like protein, fats, vitamins to mention but few, Peter also learnt that it’s good for people with cancer and diabetes. May be this is what we can begin preaching to our local communities who did not know yet what valve mushroom has to begin eating that would help them health wise. Meanwhile additional skill life training to our community mostly the women that would help them cultivates vegetables for themselves instead of bothering their husbands for money to buy red meat and other vegetables.
INTRODUCTION ABOUT OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION
Mushrooms are fruiting bodies of some fungi belonging to class “Basidiomycetes” SP. There are both edible and poisonous mushrooms but for this matter we are cultivating edible one. Mushrooms are fruiting bodies of some fungi belonging to class “Basidiomycetes” SP. There are both edible and poisonous mushrooms but for this matter we are looking at edible mushrooms.
In the past mushrooms were only growing wildly in association with termites and as saprophytes under Gods own arrangements and these grow seasonally. But due to demand for mushroom and its being seasonal in nature, instead of waiting for God always, man decided to advance in biotechnology and mushrooms can now be grown indoors artificially.
Initially African people used to refer mushrooms as “the food for the gods because of their special flavor, nutritional, value and medicinal properties. Among the Baganda people it’s never missed during the celebrations of the birth of twins and among the lou people it’s a bad omen to dream about mushroom. Thanks to ned.com online members who funded this project. The project now employs 30 community members and over hundred are learning how to grow. You may also learn how to do this merely by reading these steps and meeting its requirements.
HOW TO DO IT/REQUIREMENTS FOR OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION.
1. CONTROLLED ENVIROMENT:
a) Incubation room: this is what is needed to help create “dark room” of 60% humidity low ventilation and internal temperature ranging between 20 to 30 °c
b)Cropping room: this is need for partitioning room within the incubation room with ventilation to give in some light.
2.Substrate: this is the organic materials on which to grow the mushroom. Various agricultural wastes can be used singly or in combination like cotton seed husks, bagasse, dry maize cobs, dry banana leaves etc. depending on its availability and high yield productivity of mushroom.
3. Sterilizer: could be drum or big saucepan for boiling the substrate.
Having got your substrate, you need to soak it over night. By doing this you are washing and making the substrate soft ready for sterilization. One should bear in mind to squeeze the soaked substrate until you see no water. When that is done, mixing of substrate with either chicken drops or maize bran or both. By doing this, we are giving mushroom manure to expect good yield. This is preceded by putting the substrate in the clean suck and later in the drum for sterilization. Sterilization may take 7 to 8 hours to ensure that any hiding pest that would interfere with the growth is steamed up/ boiled completely.
SOACKING OF THE SUBSTRATE
SQUEEZING WATER MIXING THE SUBSTRATE WITH MANURE/MAIZE BRAN
STEAMING
PLANTING IN THE POLYTHENE BAGS (The hands must be cleaned with spirit)
PLANTED MUSHROOM (watering is done daily on the floor for two weeks before further daily watering direct on the gardens)
NOW YOUR MUSHROOM IS BEGINING TO SHOOT UP
