Mushroom farming a boon for Dar es Salaam man

Dar es Salaam. Mushroom farming is now becoming a popular, commercial and job creator for farmers and traders in Tanzania.
In the past, mushrooms have traditionally been picked from the wild and farmers did not grow them commercially.
The government and various non-profit organisations are now touting commercial production of oyster mushrooms to increase incomes of the local farmers, who depend on rain-fed crop growing.
Fortified with skills and knowledge, the 38-year-old, Mr Herman Msagamasi, prepares mushroom farms, plants them, harvests and packs them for sale.
Unlike other growers who buy mushroom spawns from local suppliers, Mr Msagamasi makes them himself.
He uses farm wastes like sorghum, millet, beans, peas, rice, and maize, as substrates for growing oyster mushrooms.
He then boils the materials in a closed container for 8-12 hours to remove unwanted organism and bacteria. After the cooling process, he fills the material in thin polyethylene bags in the required ratio of the substrate.
“Each bag is filled with two kilograms of substrate, which is then mixed with a full spoon of spawn. I then close the plastic bags and shelve them in a dark room for incubation,” he said.
Mr Msagamasi says mushrooms start sprouting after 28 to 35 days and each plastic bag can yield a minimum of two kilograms of fresh oyster mushrooms ready for sale.
“I mostly sell the harvested mushrooms fresh, but they can be dried and packed into plastic bags,” he noted.
He built a simple rough house using mud and grasses at Nyegulu ‘A’ Street, Chanika in Dar es Salaam.
The mud and grasses are helpful to control the temperature and humidity, according to him.
“Mushrooms are fungi and cannot withstand hot temperature. Since weather in Dar es Salaam is generally hot by nature, I built the farm-house using the mud and grasses to produce humidity that controls the temperature,” he explained, adding that nothing can be harvested if it is hot.
From hobby to business
Mr Msagamasi started growing mushrooms as a hobby after learning from people around him in 2015 at Mwanzomgumu Street in Kisarawe district in the Coast region.
He grew the mushrooms for home consumption and sells the surplus to his neighbours. He was able to sell up to 3kg of mushrooms a day at a price of Sh10, 000 per kilogram.
He officially started growing mushrooms, commercially, in 2017 with an initial capital of Sh3 million in Kisarawe.
His production went up and sales increased to an average of 10-20kg of mushrooms a day at a retail price of Sh10,000 and whole price of Sh8,000.
In 2020, his capital reached Sh10 million and he decided to move his operations to Chanika, Dar es Salaam. He currently sells up to 30kg per day with the same retail and wholesale prices. This suggests that on the best day, the business earns him between Sh240,000 and Sh300,000 from mushroom sales.
Herman employs one person on permanent basis and other tens of people who temporarily work during the preparations, production, harvesting and marketing periods.
He sells the mushroom to individuals, supermarkets, shops or mini supermarkets and hotels.
“I use digital platforms to advertise my products. My customers also help me to tell their friends, and relatives so I expand my market-base every day,” he noted.
“I do delivery to people who order the mushroom to their houses or offices with small extra charges,” he added.
Why mushroom matters
Mushrooms are a rich, low calorie source of fiber, protein, and antioxidants.
They may also mitigate the risk of developing serious health conditions, such as, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Mushrooms are also a good source of vitamin B, C, and D, including niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, and folate, and various minerals including potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, and copper. They provide carbohydrates, but are low in fat and fiber, and contain no starch. They are also a source of income to farmers.
Mushrooms are also an essential part of the planet’s ecosystem and the life cycle as they recycle nutrients, keeping forests healthy.
They produce long, thin filaments in the soil that connect roots to create a symbiotic network. They take nutrients from plants, like trees, but also provide water and nutrients to the roots. Plants with mycorrhizae fungi thrive compared to those without them. “We use waste from farms to form the soil. This makes the environment clean,” Mr Msagamasi said.
Future plans
Mr Msagamasi has registered his own firm, Hertu Investment and he is currently constructing the office in Chanika.
“The construction of the office is in initial stages but when completed it will help me to do my business formally and it will be easy for my customers and partners to know my whereabouts,” he noted.
His plan is also to expand his operations from growing one mushroom species (oyster) to other species or varieties.
“I want to grow different varieties of mushrooms including indigenous ones of which I will collect them from the forest and ‘Button’ species which is very profitable and also has a high demand,” he said.
He also plans to open a college and teach people on how to become good farmers of mushroom.
Challenges
There are some diseases which attack mushrooms including bacteria and viruses, but they can be prevented.
“The diseases attack the mushrooms when you don’t follow the hygiene procedures and allow the bacteria to enter the farm and destroy the product,” he said.
Another challenge, according to him, is lack of knowledge to grow mushrooms, scientifically.
Hot temperature in Dar es Salaam is another big challenge for farmers as they end up harvesting nothing or little amounts of mushrooms.
A notion to the majority of people that mushrooms are poisonous is another big challenge.
However, Herman says the current farming technology is totally safe. “Poisonous mushrooms were picked from forests during the rainy season but not for what I grow,” he said.
Capital can be another challenge as Herman started with the capital of Sh3 million.
But, he says a small scale farmer can start with little capital of Sh50,000 or less.
“It depends on the size of the farm. Majority start with the capital of between Sh700, 000 and Sh1 million but some start even in their small rooms at zero cost,” he said.
Government support
The government through the Small Industries Development Organization (Sido) provides training skills of mushroom farming to people. The aim of the training is to ensure food security, creating employment to women and youths because this farming needs very small capital and crops are obtained in very short time, recycling the farm wastes, reducing environmental damage by using wastes, getting mushrooms with enough vitamin and reducing deaths due to using poison mushrooms.
The trainees will get skills of preparing shed to be used for farming mushrooms, preparing substrates, putting substrates in plastic bags, sowing seeds in plastic bags and saving plastic bags in a dark room for 2-4 weeks, then swaying the plastic bags on the shelf.