Farmer Highlights Mushroom’s Economic Value

The chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Dilomat Farms and Services Limited, Chief Moore Chinda, has expressed his readiness to assist the Rivers State Government in the establishment of a mushroom production and processing industry in the state.
Chinda, who stated this in his office in Port Harcourt, Monday, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent said with the break through of the company in the technology of tissue culture and spawn production on a commercial scale it was set to contribute to the aspirations of the nation towards the realisation and achievement of the Millennium Development goals (MDG).
According to him, the realisation of this dream would not only spell unquantifiable benefits to the people of the state but would also have a positive effect on African and other developing nations of the world.
He hinted that mushroom was the most versatile and prolific agricultural venture all over the world, adding that the main challenge to its mass production was the unavailability of  a ready source of spawn.
The Dilomat boss opined that government’s support was an inevitable asset as could be observed from the results of the Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform in china.
Speaking further, he said the abundance of research opportunities for mushroom production, especially tropical mushrooms for the nation’s universities and research institutions was another benefit from the emerging mushroom industry.
Throwing more light, Chinda explained that dilomat Farms have been engaged in mushroom research for the past 13 years for spawn and mushroom production and processing.
“With the availability of spawn which is the seed of mushroom, mushroom cultivation  is the most profitable agricultural venture all over the world and mushroom yield for any given space of land is the highest in any part of the world.
“With our climatic condition, mushroom can be cultivated and harvested in Nigeria all year round from January to December” he said.
He enumerated some of the benefits of mushroom cultivation to include, land area not a limiting factor, maximum utilisation of waste land, creation of job opportunity for women, youths, pensioners, children, the disabled, and people with low income as well as entrepreneurs, amongst others.