Turn straw into money

One ton of straw used for growing mushrooms can earn interest from 3-5 million. But farmers still burned thousands of tons of straw after each harvest.

According to the Center for Plant Biotechnology (Vietnam Agricultural Genetics Institute), if using 100 tons of dried straw to grow mushrooms, it will create about 30 thousand tons of mushrooms (oyster mushroom, oyster mushroom and straw mushroom) for the value of At least 200 million VND.

Burning straw = burning money

However, there is a current practice that most farmers only consider straw as garbage, an agricultural waste that needs to be cleaned and burned after each harvest. Even relatives have to throw straw in the roadway, under the sewer, not only wasting resources but also causing environmental pollution and traffic congestion.

When asked why burning straw, some farmers in Hai Boi commune, Dong Anh district answered: Because there are no buffaloes and cows to raise, and also the straw cannot be sold, so what is it to burn? Not only farmers in Hai Boi commune, in many places, farmers still do not know that straw has been a valuable source of raw materials for producing organic fertilizer and especially for mushroom production. Because growing mushrooms does not require high technical, does not occupy much area, mainly take advantage of the vacant area. Low investment costs, quick profitability and significant income generation for farmers.

Currently, both domestic and foreign markets such as the US, China, Japan and Europe have great demand for mushrooms with the domestic price fluctuating on average from 8,500 to 12,000 VND / 1kg of fresh mushrooms. At times of scarcity, peak mushroom prices are up to several tens of thousands of VND / 1kg.

Supply is not enough

Ms. Nguyen Thi Son, deputy director of the Center for Plant Biotechnology (TT Biotechnology Center), said: 'On average, Hanoi consumes 3,000 - 4,000 tons of finished mushrooms, equivalent to Trung's mushroom production. mind produced for a whole year '. Also according to Ms Son, the market demand for mushrooms is the largest, but we have never met enough.

In 2010, China ordered 2,000 tons of fat mushrooms from the Center and the Center had to devote all efforts to complete the amount of mushrooms that customers needed. Mr. Do Duc Thinh, director of the Agricultural Products Company (Me Linh - Hanoi), said that there are often not enough sources of mushrooms to sell to the market, especially in the coming Lunar New Year when demand for pepper The receptor will also rise.

So where is the cause? Currently, the whole North has only a few provinces growing many mushrooms and is as effective as Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh and Hai Phong. Only the vast agricultural area of ​​Hanoi only Dan Phuong district is considered to have a movement to grow mushrooms.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thach, former Director of the Institute of Agricultural Biology, said that many mushroom farming households have escaped from poverty, earning from several tens to hundreds of million VND each year but the market is always 'thirsty' of mushrooms because Up to now, there are no models and centers to develop mushroom cultivation for farmers.

Don't let people 'swim'

In fact, mushroom cultivation is now developing in a spontaneous and fragmented way, without specific and specialized planning for agricultural areas.

Where there is a strong movement, the whole village and the whole commune grow mushrooms (eg Nghia Hung district, Y Yen district - Nam Dinh or Chau Thanh A district - Hau Giang; Tam Binh district - Vinh Long district, Chau Thanh district - Soc Trang district) models have been developed and centers for mushroom cultivation are effective), and there is no place to know about this profession. Although the advantages of land, leisure labor and the source of straw after harvest are not much different.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Son added that many farmers had to go from the countryside to the TV Biotechnology Center to learn the cultivation of mushrooms because there is no one in the locality and no agencies or units to guide her children growing mushrooms.