Terengganu acquires taste for mushrooms

2008/08/23

Terengganu acquires taste for mushrooms
By : Rosli Zakaria

Mat Yusof with a sample of a mushroom that can provide growers with good returns.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Mushroom cultivation will be promoted as one of the state's ventures, as it has proven to be successful in providing the poor with a stable income.

With low technology application and low starting capital, coupled with a high demand and good market price, makes it an ideal backyard venture.

"You only need a small space in the backyard and you need not spend too much on building a shed.

"With a bit of training, you can already start a small project," said Mat Yusof, an officer at the Agriculture Department research station in Ajil, Hulu Terengganu.

The station has started propagating the mycelium collected from fresh and high quality mushrooms that will enable the cloning of the spores, which will later be transferred into a growing medium such as sterilized wheat or sawdust.

At the moment, the commercial mushroom growers are getting the spores from Johor and Selangor, but with the station given the tasks of producing more of them, there will soon be more than enough for both commercial growers and participants of poverty eradication projects.

"Mushrooms have a short life cycle but they can be grown all year round.

"As such they can be harvested continuously.

"Moreover, their market price is high and so is their yield.

"A shed with about 1,000 healthy bags of spores can produce four kilogrammes of mushrooms a day, and at a price of RM10 a kg, a participant can easily earn RM40 a day.

"And mushrooms can be harvested everyday."

Although the life cycle of mushrooms is only two weeks, a scheduled production will enable participants to consistently produce them all year round.

Mat said despite high demand outside the state, the demand for the fleshy oyster mushrooms was also growing in Terengganu based on a study done by the station at wet markets.

"Attempts must be made to promote mushrooms.

"There is also a potential for growers to be employed as contract farmers for companies which produce canned mushrooms."