In recent years, mushroom cultivation in Binh Phuoc province has made rapid development in both production and consumption because mushrooms are a clean food with high economic and nutritional value. However, the actual mushroom farming has not yet developed commensurate with the potential.

The model of growing mushrooms for an income of 1 billion VND/year of Mr. Tran Van Tu's family

The model is easy to do, good income

In Tien Hung commune, Mr. Tran Van Tu is famous throughout the region for his success in mushroom production and trading. Starting from the production of oyster mushrooms with a few dozen m2 of camps more than 10 years ago, Mr. Tu now owns a large-scale mushroom production system with an area of ​​​​over 2,000 m2, annually supply to the market nearly 40 tons of mushrooms of all kinds. Mr. Tu shared: Currently in our province, agriculture is still the main thing, so the raw materials for growing mushrooms such as straw, bagasse, stalks, corn cobs, especially sawdust are very readily available.

Therefore, the development of mushroom farming makes a lot of sense, not only taking advantage of agricultural wastes, clearing fields but also bringing great economic benefits. Like my family, the total income from mushrooms is about 1 billion VND a year.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, owner of a mushroom farm in Tan Loi commune added: "The investment capital for mushroom cultivation is not much, the technique is not too complicated, anyone can do it. Mushrooms have a short growth time. So after just over 30 days of planting, there are products to be harvested.

Especially, today's consumers are very fond of mushroom products, even at the family's farm, fresh mushrooms are sometimes not enough to supply restaurants and hotels in the province.

The investment cost of growing mushrooms is low, does not take much land, has a quick turnaround, has little risk, but gives high income and profits. With an initial investment of about 10 million VND and 100m2 of land to build a camp, it is possible to create a stable job for a worker who specializes in mushroom cultivation with an income of 1.5-2 million VND/month.

Moreover, the climate and weather can grow mushrooms all year round, both low-temperature-loving (mushroom) and high-temperature-loving (straw mushroom), the species can reach from 7-10 types. Besides, the materials for growing mushrooms in Binh Phuoc are very available, plentiful, cheap and still wasted, especially straw.

In particular, the reception of foreign science and technology together with domestic research results now allows us to have a set of good mushroom varieties with high yield, suitable for each region and each crop, which can be mastered in seed production and mushroom cultivation technology. The technology is uncomplicated, inexpensive, and easily transferred through the extension system.

The demand is growing

According to the statistics of Binh Phuoc Mushroom Industry Association, mushroom farming in our province has made rapid progress in terms of quantity and scale: In 2002, only 200 households participated in mushroom cultivation, up to now, this number has increased up to 3,000 households.

People have begun to have faith in mushroom farming and are strongly shifting to commodity production on an increasingly large scale. Mushroom production of all kinds in 2019 reached about 5 thousand tons, of which oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms and straw mushrooms ... accounted for about 70-80%, the rest were medicinal mushrooms.

The mushroom consumption market is increasingly expanding inside and outside the province, which is a decisive condition for production development in Binh Phuoc. The habit of using mushrooms as a daily food in family meals has been forming quite well in the community.

As a result, the selling price of fresh mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms, fat mushrooms, cat mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms... always fluctuates at a high level, from 30,000 to 70,000 VND/kg. Regarding the content of nutrients in edible mushrooms, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tram, an officer of the Center for Information and Application of Science and Technology, (Department of Science and Technology) said: In addition to nutritional value (rich in protein, glucid, lipid, amino acids, vitamins, minerals..., mushrooms also have biological activities (polysaccharides, nucleic acids..), so mushrooms are considered "clean vegetables", "clean meat" and are "medicine food".

Because of the nutritional value of mushrooms, people's demand for mushrooms is increasing. On the other hand, Binh Phuoc is in a period of rapid economic development, many projects are implemented to attract a large workforce, surely the market for edible mushrooms in the near future will increase rapidly.

Through the above parameters, we can confirm that the mushroom industry is an industry with high economic value and sustainability, households can take advantage of their free time and vacant space to increase their income, or invest in expertise that ensures economic efficiency.

Author: Tran Chi Tam