DEVELOPMENTS AND WAY FORWARD IN MUSHROOM CULTIVATION IN THE NW AND SW REGIONS OF CAMEROON
Background
Mushrooms is highly solicited by the entire population of Cameroon and recently many diabetic and hypertensive patients have been placing more interest in organic foods especially vegetables as a solution to their health problems. Many youths especially women and girls can be seen during peak mushroom periods selling wild mushrooms along roadsides in the NW and SW regions and parts of Centre and West regions. However, wild mushrooms are highly solicited by 98% of the population. According to Kinge et al., (2017) the most commonly consumed wild mushrooms are the Termitomyces titanicus (Lyophyllaceae), Coprinellus disseminates (Psathyrellaceae), Termitomyces microcarpus (Lyophyllaceae), Laetiporus sulphureus (Polyporaceae), Agaricus campestris (Agaricaceae), Pleurotus ostreatus (Pleurotaceae), Ganoderma sp. (Ganodermataceae), Auricularia auricula (Auriculariaceae) and Coprinus disseminates (Agaricaceae). These mushrooms have nutrition and medicinal value and serve as a source of income for people of the North West, South West regions especially those from the Ndop plains, Bafut, Babessi, Bamessing, Ndu, Bamukumbit, Bali Nyonga etc. The importance is also stressed by Yongabi et al., 2004 who illustrates the economic viability of mushrooms in the West regions thereby buttressing the role of mushrooms in eradicating rural poverty. It should be recalled that, mushrooms plays an important role in the nutrition of rural people and only about 6.7% of 1.5 million of fungi species have been describes in the world with very little information and research in the tropics owing to the important contribution of fungi to the pharmaceutical industries. The use of fungi as food and medicine by the rural communities dates as far back as the 16 century and very little survey has been carried out to identify and describe fungi species in most forests in Cameroon. With uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, slash-and-burn farming, deforestation is currently putting edible fungi biotope at risk thus the need for ex-situ conservation measures. Conserving edible mushrooms in the wild can only be done using ex-situ conservation techniques of micro propagation. These techniques entail the identification of potential species, strain collection and multiplication at the level of small laboratories and subsequent cultivation as food and medicines in specialized farm units.
Mushroom cultivation is still under developed in Cameroon although many small organisations like CEDEP (Centre for Development and Environmental Protection) and Professional Institutions like the Pan African Institute for Development-West Africa-Buea have been working hard to promote its cultivation. However, spawn production still remain the hands of some individuals who dont want to transfer technology to others and are sometimes faced with problems of low quality and low yield spawns.
Recent Development in the North West and South West Regions
Technical Support from government
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) transformed the mushroom project into a program known as Program for the promotion of edible mushrooms. This program is focused on promoting the cultivation of mushroom, processing and packaging, and marketing. The Ministry through its National coordinator has appointed regional coordinators who are charged with identifying mushroom producers and provide them with mushroom spawns to grow mushrooms. MINADER is aimed at improving the livelihood of mushroom cultivators by providing them with spawns of Pleurotus ostreatus mushrooms which is often scarce to increase yields in quantity and quality. This program is being supported by technical backstopping in training and material support.
The drawback is that most of the appointed coordinators dont have a mastery of the concept of mushroom cultivation and often fail to address pertinent issues raised by farmers who have been in the field for long.
Available mushroom farmers in the regions
The numbers of mushroom farmers are dwindling with a lot of people showing interest at the beginning but later on abandon the project. This result from the fact that, most people who join the project are not often selected based on their willingness to cultivate mushrooms and brace all the challenges. In the North West regions there are mushroom farmers in Ndop, Bamenda, Banja, and Wum. In the SW region there are mushroom farmers in Buea with some who have received training in Limbe. CEDEP have trained more than 180 students from the University of Buea agricultural club, the Pan African Institute for Development and Farmer groups in Molyko, street 7 Great Soppo and mile 16. There are lots of individuals who are requesting training from Owe village, Kumba, Limbe, Tole and Bwusa village. The technique of mushroom cultivation is currently being disseminated to farmers for free and partnerships are built to enable them market what they grow. However, some new farmers are gradually mastering skills in Douala but the temperature in Douala can be a risk factor but it can also be an opportunity as regards the drying of fresh mushrooms. However, the involvement of individuals in mushroom farming has been huge in the recent past but most often they usually abandon the activity because of poor market strategy, inadequate knowledge about the medicinal and nutritional value of the specie of mushroom cultivated and unnecessary expenditure during the production phase. Most often, new farmers are very enthusiastic at the beginning and think first yields will allow them recover cost which is not often the case.
Availability of spawn and substrate material
Mushroom cultivation relies on the availability of good quality spawn and appropriate substrate material to grow. Developing spawns require the mastery of micro propagation techniques and also requires income to set up propagation unit. Not everybody can engage in this because it requires a lot of focus. However, spawn producers are available in Bamenda and they have currently moved to Buea under the influence of CEDEP. The price of 1000g of spawn sells at 2 USD that is 1000 FCFA which can inoculate 6 kg of substrate material that can produce up to 3 kg of fruiting bodies per bag for a period of 2 months. A kilogram of fresh mushrooms can sell at 2500 FCFA i.e. 5 USD depending on the region or city. The substrate materials vary with regions, cities and villages. CEDEP has done a series of research in the SW region and NW region to identify favorable substrate material adapted to each agroecological zones. In the SW regions, palm cones, saw dust of varying tree species, corn cobs and corn flour is locally available. Wheat bran is available but it quality is not guaranteed and farmers can easily register great losses when using it. Using only palm cones and corn cobs is possible but the yield and weight will be lower as compared to a combined substrate of corn flour, palm cone, saw dust and corn flour. The duration of the fruitification period from the time of the first primordia depends on the quality of the substrate material. Sometimes, growers in Buea can purchase rice bran and rice husk from Ndop to improve on the quality of their substrate. This will increase yield and fruitification period. But the cost of the substrate material will also have a great impact on the profit margin of the producer and price of mushrooms in the market.
Marketability and Mentorship
The market of Oyster mushrooms is still growing. People need to be informed about the benefits of consuming this specie of mushrooms. CEDEP have currently established a small niche of customers who are currently consuming what we grow and have placed advance command for our mushrooms because we provide them with information on the quality of our produce. CEDEP has mentored students and farmers and currently we are providing available market to our growers thereby bearing the cost of packaging, marketing and communication. Women groups are getting interested and involved now and most of them complain of marketing and handling problems. We (CEDEP) are currently providing an accurate solution to redress this problem and are also encouraging students in the University of Buea (Department of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine) to set up experimental and pilot farms on campus so that students can learn how to make money while in school as the case with those of the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa, Buea.
Available infrastructure
Infrastructural development in the mushroom sector is somewhat expensive to acquire although the government have tried to support some farmer groups in the North West and South West regions, the sector still remain under developed. Farmers have benefited from a government led project known as ACEFA sponsored by French Development Agency with French acronym AFD and another government program known as PIASSI. Mushroom farmers in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon have received material and financial support to improve on production and productivity. This support ranged from the delivery of bank cheques, corn crusher, deep freezers, large pressure cookers and inoculation box. Despite all this, the sector is still sagging with the cultivation of a single mushroom specie i.e. the Pleurotus ostreatus.
WAY FORWARD
Mushroom cultivation experts have been requesting for a better form of support to enable mushroom growers to improve on production and productivity. To facilitate this, the following need to be considered:
- Improve spawn availability through the establishment of recommended spawn growers who can guarantee the quality and quantity of spawn available to farmers at an affordable price. Current spawn growers, make it extremely difficult for interested farmers to get involved in this lucrative activity.
- Promoting and supporting research in terms of the specie of mushrooms that can be cultivated and the suitable substrates that can support the growth of a particular mushroom specie. Most often farmers with limited resources loss money and time on poorly selected substrates thereby discouraging a lot of interested individuals.
- The certification of oyster mushrooms as organic is indispensable in the promotion and marketing of locally grown mushrooms in super markets in Cameroon as well as other countries like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The nutrient content of mushrooms grown on different substrates need to be documented and made public on the packaging so that customers can be aware of the nutritional value of the specie of mushroom. To realise this, the government and other internation NGOs and multilateral organisations should make available support and funding to facilitate the process. This is because, such analysis is often expensive and with very limited financial resources, farmers can not engage in such venture given its importance in promoting mushroom cultivation. As of now, a local community organisation in Cameroon has designed a packaging of fresh oyster mushrooms with detail nutrient content analysis. The nutrient content analysis is derived from USDA website published in 2017 and from other authors. This analysis is used to serve the purpose it deserves because similar substrate material was used in growing the packaged oyster mushrooms. Analyzing the nutrient content will also facilitate the determination of the level of toxicity in mushrooms grown from certain wood chips or saw dust substrates. This will also enable farmers to advertise the medicinal value of home grown mushrooms as well as enable cultivators to recommend certain waste materials that can improve on the quality of home grown oyster mushrooms in comparison to those in the wild.
- Recycling and re-use of spent mushroom substrate is also under trial at the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa-Buea. Most often extension officers and other authors claim that spent substrate can be used as compost manure to condition poor soil but no one has actually provided data from results of on-farm trials. However, a trial on the re-sprouting of pinheads under greenhouse condition is underway. A couple of spent substrate bag was placed outside and fruiting body weighing 150g was harvested after 4 days.
- More support in the form of equipment is very important. Prospective mushroom farmers are required to developed good plan of action. It is not only about producing huge quantities of mushroom but it is imperative that farmers secure their mushroom farms from rodent and insect attack which is often a recurrent in most farms. Starting a farm does not only demand a bit of capital but a secure location is very important and the issue of rats and temperature is very important. A feasibility study is also imperative to enable farmer identify the type of waste available in his locality and cost of acquisition.
References
1. K. Yongabi, M. Agho, and M. Carrera, Ethnomycological studies on wild mushrooms in Cameroon, Central Africa, vol. 16, pp. 3436, 2004.
2. Tonjock Rosemary Kinge, Nkengmo Apiseh Apalah, Theobald Mue Nji, Ache Neh Acha, and Afui Mathias Mih, Species Richness and Traditional Knowledge of Macrofungi (Mushrooms) in the Awing Forest Reserve and Communities, Northwest Region, Cameroon, Journal of Mycology, vol. 2017, Article ID 2809239, 9 pages, 2017. doi:10.1155/2017/2809239