DILIMAN, Quezon City—“Growing mushroom can be a stress reliever,” shared Rowena Castillo, owner of Cornelio’s Kabuteysty in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

Castillo talked about mushroom production and processing technologies, as well as its business opportunities, at the Agricultural Training Institute’s (ATI) latest free seminar for April.

“Anyone can learn the skills in mushroom-growing. There is no need for a [college] degree, you just have to keep on learning,” she said. She added that alertness, perseverance, and patience are some of the important traits of a mushroom grower.

Castillo showed the participants how to prepare mushroom grain spawns through tissue culture. She also discussed substrate production, preparation of planting media, proper care of the fruiting bags, and harvesting techniques.

“Mushroom can be a good source of income and has a high demand and price in the market,” she remarked, as she shared about its profitability and business opportunity.

Aside from selling fresh mushroom produce, other business opportunities include producing and selling fruiting bags and other materials for mushroom culture. According to the Department of Agriculture’s data, a peso investment in fruiting bag production alone will gain PhP1.35 return.

Another venture in mushroom is processing. Fresh mushrooms can be processed as dried mushrooms, mushroom powder, chips, chicharon, tempura, noodles, atchara, and other products. With proper marketing strategies, this can be a good source of income, too, according to Castillo.

First-time participant Alfredo Dela Cruz, from San Mateo, Rizal, was thankful for the new knowledge he gained from the seminar.

“I can see that the mushroom venture really needs skills and hard work. I want to give it a try,” he said.

More than 200 individuals attended the free seminar held last April 26, 2019 at the ATI Rural Development and Education Center. This is part of the Institute’s initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of the agriculture and fisheries sector.