Back in August, I wrote a grant for the oyster mushroom project. Growing mushrooms is something that many INGOs and NGOs here teach about because it’s a good income development project, and adds to the nutritional diversity of the community. I was awarded the grant which paid for 16 groups of women to receive mycelium (mushroom seed) as well as training on how to grow them. The first time, I distributed seed in November, the second time was this month. The grant required a 25% community contribution, so the members of the communities used their own straw and wood. There was also a requirement that the mushrooms be placed within their own homes as the grant did not cover building a special dark house in which to store the mushroom bags.
For the trainings, I invited the plant protection officer at the District Agriculture Office to come speak to the women’s groups. Each group had 5-8 members, so I was expecting a big crowd. I arranged for a place to meet that could hold the big crowd, snacks, and called all the groups to make sure they were coming. Then, the day before the meeting, I received a call that sent me into panic mode; the trainer could not make it. I suppressed my frustration over the phone as he apologized for not being able to come.
“Anjali”. He said. “I am sorry. Please do not be angry. I am sorry.”
“It’s ok” I said. “It’s not your fault.”
I tried to be understanding, but inside I was frantically trying to come up with a solution. Should I call the whole training off and schedule a different day? It was the first scheduled event for this mushroom project and the date had already been pushed back a few times. If I rescheduled again, the women might not take me seriously and become less committed themselves. After consulting my counterpart, I decided to spend the day looking for another trainer and keep the training as planned. Luckily, I had downloaded onto my computer the powerpoint that he was going to use for the training. My community also located another staff member of the District Agriculture Office who lived in my village and happened to be home. I invited her to meet me that night and we arranged to have her fill in the next day.
I was happy when she arrived at 9am as scheduled, ready to go. I had told the women’s groups to arrive at 10 am. At 10:30am no one had arrived yet.
“Anjali.” My friend said who owns a Hotel across the street. “What time did you tell everyone to get here?”
“10 am”
“And how many people did you buy snacks for today?”
“100”
She laughed. “You aren’t going to have 100 people come. People are busy. There’s no way that many people will come.”
“Well” I said “Either everyone is coming on ‘Nepali time’ and will be 3 hours late, or I will throw a samosa party for everyone in the bazaar today.”
She laughed again. I acted confident, but I was actually about as skeptical as she was that I would have much of a showing. Maybe I would get at least a few groups to show up? Then, around 11:15 am the first group arrived. Then another. Then another who said that there was more people on the way. When there got to be around 50 people, I started feeling better about the whole thing and started showing a video to the people who arrived on time.
By 1pm, each one of the 16 groups had arrived. Some traveled 5 hours by foot to be there that day. It was the first time I had arranged an event like this and seeing everyone there that day made me feel like it wasn’t just me who wanted this for the community. They were genuinely interested. Many aid groups pay people to come to trainings. I was not doing that, and they still came. I was impressed.
I was also impressed by the trainer that day. She had a great speaking voice and went over the whole power point presentation. There were times when the group would get loud, and she would shout at them to pay attention because there was lots of information and the more time spent wasted on getting people’s attention, the longer we would be there. They quieted down, and things moved along. We were there until about 4pm and covered all the important material.
One month later, I brought back to my village 236 bags of mushroom seed from Kathmandu on the bus. It was a 3 day trip and each day I had to transfer the seed from the bus, to my hotel, to a different bus in the morning. In the end, I was happy to be home and all of the 16 groups returned again for the practical training. We demonstrated how to cut the rice straw, wash it, steam it, then add it to the bags while layering in the mushroom mycelium. Everyone was very helpful and the bags we made that day were stored at the Health Post as an example colony.
At the end of the day I passed out supplies to each group. Each group received 21 bags of mushroom seed which, after planting would make roughly 42 bags of mushrooms. I gave out other supplies as well which lead to a little bit of a frenzy as each group wanted to make sure they were getting their fair share of things. Plastic tarps, rope, knives, and sacs were all being grabbed at and claimed.
“I didn’t get any plastic!” One group would yell out.
“Do you have any more of this rope?” Another would ask at the same time.
I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but also proud and pleased with everyone’s hard work. It would be a month before the mushrooms would start growing and we would know if that hard work had paid off.
By the end of the first round of production, the Health Post had produced around 32 kgs of mushrooms. We sold around 22 kgs and consumed 10 kgs among the staff. The highest producing mother’s group grew 21 kgs of mushrooms and the lowest about 2 kgs. Overall, the project was successful in that all groups learned a new skill that they can use in the future to both increase their income and nutrition.
We are now at the beginning the second round of cultivation. Ten of the 16 groups used their own funds to purchase seed for this round of cultivation. I passed out seed last week and so far all the bags made at the Health Post are growing well! It feels great to pass on such a beneficial skill an I’m very proud of the community. In the words of one of my counterparts:
“Alital is known for it’s quality refined butter and honey production…Now we can be known for our mushroom production as well!”
A brief overview of how Oyster mushrooms are grown in Nepal:
Rinsing
First, cut rice straw into 2 inch pieces and rinse it at least twice.
Steaming
Filling a large iron drum with rocks and a small amount of water. Heat the water to boiling, then add the straw on top. Cover the drum with a sack and plastic so that steam cannot escape. After 50 minutes, remove the straw and place it on a plastic tarp to cool.
Bag Making
Mushroom Growth
When the mycelium has filled the bag and it is almost completely white, remove the plastic. Mushrooms will start growing from the bags. It is important to have good ventilation within the room, as well as some light. The colony should be watered 2 times daily to maintain humidity. It takes about 4 weeks from the time the colony is made to the time the mushrooms are ready to harvest.
Harvest
Cut the mushrooms from the bag. Depending on the quality of mycelium and conditions within the room, each bag can grow mushrooms up to 4 times.
