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Coop receives sterilizer, rice hull stove to expand mushroom venture

Photos by Vishia Tolcidas

A DRUM sterilizer and rice hull stove was turned over to the Negrosanon for Economic Development Multipurpose Cooperative (NEEDMPC) based in Barangay Old Sagay, Sagay City in support of expanding its livelihood venture on mushroom production.

Lucia “Bing” Miñoza, NEEDMPC founder-manager, said the new sterilizer given recently by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist is a big help to the coop because it will cut down operating cost as well as increase production and income.

“Since we started mushroom culture in September last year, we only used a pressure cooker primarily intended for canning to sterilize the fruiting bags. The cooker could only accommodate 12 bags. We used liquefied petroleum gas as fuel which is costly,” said Lilibeth Miñoza, Team Leader of the Mushroom Project.

“With the drum sterilizer, we could sterilize as much as 80 fruiting bags at a time. Rice hull, a farm waste, which we use as fruiting media as well as fuel, is given free by a mill in the community and we only need to pay for hauling. This means big savings and more profit for us,” she added.

NEEDMPC availed of OPA training on subculturing of the mother spawn and multiplying them by inoculation into the fruiting bags. “We were able to make good spawns because we followed the procedure taught to us by Alexander Lecciones, Agriculturist II and Mushroom Culture Specialist of OPA,” Miñoza said.

OPA gave the mother spawn of the oyster mushroom species Pleurotus sajor cajo which is rich in protein, vitamins A and B complex, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium. It has anti-tumor properties and is low-calorie and cholesterol-free. It also tastes delicious, said Lecciones.

NEEDMPC chairperson Myrna Dañas said the coop established its own growing house and laboratory for P70,000. It allocated a capital of P25,000 to jumpstart mass production after the September 2009 training and a return of investment came in two months.

Lecciones said there are styles of growing mushrooms and the coop devised its own by hanging the tubular-shaped fruiting bags using nylon ropes tied to the ceiling to pile as much as eight layers of the bags. The bags need to be sprinkled with water regularly for the mushroom fruits to pop out and be harvested. Because mushroom culture needs a cool temperature and the right humidity especially in hot summer months, foam moistened three times a day is placed at both sides of the growing house. After the mushroom production cycle is completed for about 2-3 months, the fruiting bags can be used as plant fertilizer. It’s zero waste, he added.

Those who engage in mushroom culture have to be diligent, meticulous and patient, Lecciones said.

“Right now, we have 850 fruiting bags available. If we sell them at P25 each, it could fetch P21,250. This excludes the mushroom fruits that could be harvested from the fruiting bags,” said Miñoza, who is also a Biology Professor of the Northern Negros College of Science and Technology in Sagay City.

“It’s actually double income if you sell the fruiting bags and the fruits separately. Mushroom fruits command a high price of about P400 a kilo. There’s a lot of cash in mushroom,” Miñoza said.

OPA earlier distributed drum sterilizers and rice hull stoves to the 10 pilot organic villages in the province. The sterilizer-stove set costs about P10,000 and is being fabricated by the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Incorporated (AIDFI) in Bacolod City. Aside from the mushroom venture, the drum sterilizer and rice hull stove could also be used to sterilize agar-oatmeal or coco gel media for Trichoderma harzianum, a compost fungus activator that hastens the decomposition of rice farm waste for the production of organic fertilizer.

Other active mushroom growers in the province are the Sipalay City Government which will market their fruiting bags during the city fiesta on March 27 and a grower in Himamaylan City who regularly supplies Aboy’s Restaurant and Bacolod Adventist Medical Center in Bacolod City.

NEEDMPC will be 16 years old come March 10 and has 847 active members not just in Sagay City but also from other parts of the province. It was adjudged as having a “well-managed coastal vegetable garden” (1st level) during the 2nd Farmers and Fisherfolks Summit and the 4th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival in November 2009 at the Bacolod Pavillon Hotel in Bacolod City.

The coop is also into the operation of a bangus pond, two fishing boats, rice trading, nata de coco-making, and production of nata pickles, its latest successful venture that has given livelihood to rural women.

For more information on mushroom culture, visit the OPA Soils Laboratory Center along Gatuslao Street, Bacolod City. (Vishia Tolcidas/OPA-FITS-Negros Occ)