The Mekong and south-eastern regions have great potential to grow medicinal and edible mushrooms all year, according to the National Agricultural Extension Centre. (Photo: sggp.org.vn)HCM City (VNA) - The Mekong Delta and south-eastern regions havegreat potential for growing mushroom year round thanks to their favourableclimate and availability of vast quantities of agricultural by-products thatcan be used as inputs, according to the National Agricultural Extension Centre.
Besides, farmers in the regions basically know all about mushroom breedingtechniques and cultivation of straw, fungus, button and oyster mushrooms whilethe demand for the fungus has been growing gradually.
Tran Van Khoi, acting director of the centre, told a forum on hi-tech mushroomproduction held recently in An Giang province that it has developed insouthern provinces, generating good incomes for farmers.
They grow 16 kinds of mushrooms with an annual output of 250,000 tonnes,earning 25-30 million USD from exports.
Oyster mushrooms fetch 2,600 USD per tonne, which is higher than from otheragricultural products, besides which mushroom cultivation helps use up a largequantity of agricultural residues and creates employment, Khoi said.
The Mekong and south-eastern regions have farming residues like straw thatcould be used to grow mushrooms, but production of the fungi is well belowpotential because of poor use of technology.
Le Quang Thai of the Nacentech Technology and Business Incubator Centre, saidthe diversity of edible and medicinal mushrooms in Vietnam is still poor.
The use of technology, such as environmental sensors and automation, has notbeen considered, he said.
The biggest problem is in the area of post-harvest preservation technologiessince mushrooms are mainly consumed fresh or dried and salted for export within24 hours after harvest, he said.
Mushrooms are mostly still cultivated manually in traditional ways sincefarmers do not know they can improve productivity with technology, he said.
They should use technologies more to increase production of high-qualitymushrooms, he added.-VNA
VNA
