LOS ANGELES, Butuan City - Never underestimate these fungi. The mushroom industry in the Philippines is on the rise; in fact, one Yolanda survivor claims a potential gross revenue of close to seven million pesos solely from his mushroom business.

Troy Bumagat, a retired navy captain whose story was published in Entrepreneur Philippines, has inspired many. His discovery of mushroom as a lucrative source of sustainable income was accidental. While contemplating on how to rebuild his farm which was devastated by the typhoon, he noticed a cluster of wild mushrooms growing under his papaya trees. That gave him the idea to venture into mushroom production. Through the help of his family, friends, experts and government agencies, he now produces an average of 200-300 kilos of oyster mushrooms a week. He supplies SM Supermarkets and other restaurants throughout Central Visayas earning him around Php 132,000 a week or Php 6.9 million a year.

In Caraga region, the Agricultural Training Institute is training farmers how to commercially grow mushrooms through the Training Course on Mushroom Production. Twenty-six (26) farmers from Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte completed the three-day training which took place from September 18-20, 2018. During the training, they were able to learn about edible and poisonous mushrooms; common propagation techniques of selected edible mushrooms; mushroom growing media; spawn preparation, inoculation and planting; and harvesting.