Support Poverty Alleviation Through Microbusiness Development: Rural Mushroom Production and Distribution

I would like to take a detailed look at the project I am involved in here in Tanzania and help you understand just how the process of growing mushrooms works and how it will help the impoverished.  Also I will offer you an opportunity to get involved and help ensure the success of the project.

(To the loyal readers of my 'regularly' scheduled Motorcycle Diaries I apologize for the wait and promise the next chapter shortly)

So what is my project?  I am teaching local villagers to grow Oyster Mushrooms and secondarily setting up a distribution network to sell those mushrooms fresh to local restaurants, hotels and individuals.

Whenever I tell people here about my project the first question almost everyone asks is, “Where did you get that idea?”  The idea came to me about a week after coming to Tanzania.  We were taking a two-week intensive beginners Swahili course and our teacher was going over the names of fruits and vegetables.  When we came to Uyoga (Mushrooms) she told us that we were unlikely to ever see them in any of the local markets here.  “People here don’t grow them, or eat them, there is a cultural stigma against them here in Northern Tanzania, and people generally don’t trust them, since there are various types that can kill.” She explained to us.  In that moment I had one of those epiphanies.  I realized that even if local people didn’t want to buy them I knew that I did, and there were a lot of other people like me out there who would too.  Northern Tanzania, Moshi and Arusha in particular, are home to an extremely high number of volunteers, tourists and expatriates, nearly all of whom are coming from Western and European countries where mushroom consumption is huge.  Thus there are a relatively large number of restaurants and hotels that cater specifically to the taste of the ‘Mzungu,’ and individual expatriates with the capability of cooking their own food.  Each of these makes a sizable and effectively untapped market for this product.  There are some mushrooms available but nearly no fresh of any kind.  There are occasionally dried Oyster and Shitake Mushrooms to be found, though they are not well distributed and generally less desirable.  There is an abundance of canned button mushrooms, but these are ill tasting, ill smelling and generally ill conceived. Thus there is a serious gap in the market waiting to be filled by locally produced, good quality, fresh mushrooms.

The second question I usually get is, “So, did you know anything about mushrooms before coming here?”  The simple answer is no.  I knew that they are fungus, I knew that they grew on decomposing organic material, and I knew that I really liked eating them.  That was it, the entire sum of my knowledge on the subject.  For the first two months of being here I did a huge amount of research, trying to educate myself and determine the feasibility of growing in the Moshi area.  The more I looked into it the more I was encouraged by what I found, but also I quickly came to realize that I needed professional help and training.  I found that help in Mbeya in Southern Tanzania, about 17hrs away by bus with a small company called Tanmush.  In mid December I made the trek south to spend three days learning all the academics and practical knowledge I would need to train others and to oversee a successful project.  

The knowledge to do something, however, is only half the equation.  I also needed to find a suitable group of people to do the learning and the growing as well as a local organization to partner with.  When I visited Tanzania to do preliminary market research for Royal Roads Microfinance Business Ideas Competition in the spring of 2010, I was introduced to Young Kimaro and the Mwika Development Trust Fund (MWIDEFU), which among many other things helps facilitate microloans in the their community.  Young and MWIDEFU were able to help recruit potential growers and eventually oversee the administration of microloans to them, giving them the resources they needed to purchase startup equipment.  I now have 10 growers in the village of Mwika, about 40km from Moshi, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, all trained and in the final stages of preparation to grow.

The process of growing mushrooms is relatively simple.  We are focused on growing Oyster Mushrooms (Mamama in Kiswahili), which are exceptionally well suited to growing in tropical climes.  Oyster Mushrooms are grown indoors and thus require a small hut to be built for this purpose.  This hut or Uyoga Banda, allows growers greater control over temperature, humidity, light, airflow, and keeps away pests.  Mushrooms grow on decaying organic material or what we call ‘Substrate.’  In the case of Oyster Mushrooms we are able to use cheap, locally available substrates such as banana leaf and straw.  Some mushrooms like the Button, require that they be grown on carefully managed compost, greatly increasing the labor and technicality of growing.  Oysters, however, are capable of growing on pasteurized leaves, making the process extremely simple.  Growers simply put a few litres of water in the bottom of a barrel, fill it with chopped banana leaf and straw, cover tightly, and then put over a fire for a few hours.  This effectively creates a pressure cooker like environment and the steam will kill any and all microorganisms, which could interfere with the mushrooms growth.  The next day, after things have cooled the substrate is layered into large plastic bags with mushroom spawn.  The spawn must be grown in a lab, as spores are too difficult and unreliable to use for propagation.  Once the bags are packed full they are put into the hut and covered with plastic to create a dark, CO2 rich atmosphere, for two weeks.  During this two-week period the spawn begins to spread mycelium (think of it as mushroom roots) throughout the bag until it is covering nearly all the substrate.  At this point the bag is moved to a shelf in the hut where it will receive a little more light and good air circulation.  Within two to four weeks of coming out of dark the grower will have his first harvest or flush of mushrooms.  The first flush is always the largest and with the 5-kilo bags of substrate the growers use, can be as large 1-kilo of mushrooms.  After harvest the bag will continue to produce successively smaller flushes each 10-12 days for a total of 5 flushes.

I now have 10 growers trained and in the final stages of preparing themselves to grow mushrooms in Mwika, and a very promising list of interested clients.  It would seem that the pieces are all in place and the probability of success is very high.  What does success look like, however?  The impact of this project can be viewed from 3 perspectives: the growers, distributor, and the community at large.

The average blue-collar worker in Tanzania earns approximately 5,000 Tanzanian Shillings (TSH) a day, which roughly equates to $3.45 CAD.  With this money they help support their family, putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their heads etc.  It is not much but it is just enough for most people to get by on; no frills, no extras, but there are few people here who are starving to death.  There are, however, many obvious signs of poverty in the region.  Malnutrition, an HIV/AIDS epidemic, many families living without electricity in houses made of just mud and sticks, children whose parents can not afford to send them to school, the list goes on.  In particular, a majority of the people living in rural areas are farmers of some type, who work very long days for very little reward.

For the growers the project represents an opportunity to supplement their income by an approximate minimum of 3,300 TSH a day, an increase of about 66%.  Consider that each 5kg bag of mushrooms costs about 2,500 TSH to produce, and on average should yield 3-3.5 kilos of mushrooms.  These mushrooms are sold for 3,000 TSH per kilo yield revenues of 9,000 – 10,500 TSH per bag and a net income of 6,500 – 8,000 TSH.  Currently at the outset of the project growers are being encouraged to start a conservative 5 bags every two weeks to help ensure that a solid market exists and to have demand exceed supply.

For the Distributor this will become a nearly full time job.  Aloyce Maletho supports a family of 5 with 4 children ages 6 to 18.  Despite speaking English well and being a genial character, he has been without work for some time now and his savings have dwindled to dangerously low levels.  For him this job represents an opportunity to make enough money to continue feeding his family and continue paying the school fees for his children to ensure they receive a quality education.  Aloyce will purchase the mushrooms from the growers at 3,000 TSH a kilo and then deliver and resell at 5,000 per kilo to restaurants, hotels and expatriates throughout the Kilimanjaro region.  Initial projections of the market suggest that Aloyce should be able to net between 400,000 TSH and 600,000 per month, a decent Tanzanian salary.  As the market grows and production increases so does Aloyce’s potential for earning.

Non-monetary benefits to the growers, distributor, and community exist through the high nutritional value of mushrooms.  On a dry weight basis Oyster Mushrooms contain between 15% - 35% protein and are an excellent source of vitamins A – E, antioxidants, antibacterial properties, and have been shown to help bolster the immune system.  In an area where the average daily diet is rice, beans and maize, the addition of mushrooms has the potential to significantly increase wellness.  All of the growers I have trained thus far have expressed a keen interest to grow extra for household consumption as well as a commitment to introducing others in the community to this food source.  

A snapshot of a few of the people who are now involved in the project: 

Name: Fredrick Mori

Age: 57 yrs

Supported Family: Five Children and a Wife

Current Means of Support: Peasant Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower and Coordinator of Communications amongst growers in Mwika

Name: Frezer N. Shaw

Age: 52 yrs

Supported Family: Four Children and a Wife

Current Means of Support: Peasant Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower

Name: Alex Julius Mariki

Age: 40 yrs

Supported Family: Four Children and his Mother

Current Means of Support: Peasant Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower

Name: Lightness Stanley Kimaro

Age: 48 yrs

Supported Family: Four Children and her Husband

Current Means of Support: Livestock Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower

Name: Crisanta Humfrey Lyimo

Age: 50 yrs

Supported Family: Ten People

Current Means of Support: Peasant Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower

Name: Charles Sofari Nriyo

Age: 58 yrs

Supported Family: Twelve People

Current Means of Support: Peasant Farmer
Project Involvement: Grower

Name: Aloyce Maletho

Age: 43 yrs

Supported Family: Four Children and a Wife

Current Means of Support: Unemployed
Project Involvement: Distributor

How you can Help:

This project was originally funded through a very generous philanthropist in Victoria B.C.  He donated a substantial sum of money to Royal Roads University in a partnership to develop micro-business opportunities in the area around Moshi. I originally came with three other participants who completed their projects and returned to Canada.  I opted to stay on for an additional three months in order to complete the development of my project and better ensure its long term success and sustainability.  Additionally in order ensure the growers have sufficient funds to purchase equipment and build their growing huts we have had to extend microloans of 200,000 TSH to each.  To make these loans available we have had to ‘seed’ money into the local SACCOS (small community banks).  This expense and my extended stay have exceeded the funds granted to me at the beginning of the project.

As a result in order to successfully see this project through to completion I need your help, as do the farmers and distributor I am working with.  Funds are urgently needed in the following areas:

1. Subsidizing micro-loans for the growers - $1,500.  This money will eventually be paid back to MWIDEFU and sit in a revolving fund to support future farmers who wish to begin growing mushrooms.   
2. Partial purchase price of a reliable motorbike for the Distributor - $750.  The Distributor will match this contribution to buy a motorbike which will be used to travel between the village and the end-customers. 
3. Miscellaneous business expenses and supplies, such as travel, printing, additional training and follow up with growers, etc - $1000. 

To donate please follow the steps below

1. Go to http://tinyurl.com/5tf724u 
2. Fill out your contact info 
3. Fill in the amount you wish to donate and select “Tanzania Microbusiness 2011” from the drop down ‘designation’ menu 
4. After completing the process, donors will see a confirmation message on their screen, and receive a letter/tax receipt in the mail

Donations of $20 or more will be issued a charitable tax deduction receipt.

Please consider recommending this to others and thank you for your support.

Andrew Miller