Ethnic minorities engaged in safe mushroom production

Advantages

Luc Binh is a commune in the mountainous district of Bach Thong, Bac Kan province. It is home to ethnic minorities whose incomes are all from agricultural and forestry production. Only a few years ago, the innovation of local production faced many difficulties, due to limited access to science and technology, thus local people still maintain the old farming practice of subsistence production.

However, Luc Binh commune has many advantages for development, such as a large agricultural and forestry production area, and an abundant local labor force. 

In addition, its climatic and soil conditions are suitable for many high-value crops. 

Luong Thi Giang, a local, has realised that this was great potential and she is determined to promote local strengths, making the most of agricultural by-products (straw, straw, sawdust, corn cob). ,...) to make high-value products.

Giang realised that producing edible and medicinal mushrooms was appropriate. 

Since 2016, she has researched and visited typical mushroom growing models in provinces like Hung Yen, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh and Hanoi.

Giang also actively contacted the Mushroom Center of the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Genetics to learn and receive technology transfer for mushroom cultivation.

In 2016, Giang embarked on her edible mushroom farming project with the starting point of 3,000 bags of Hoang De mushroom embryos. In 2017, due to market demand, she switched to growing straw mushrooms and has achieved success in this field.

However, seeing that individual production will be difficult to expand the production scale, so by January 2018, Giang linked up with ten members who are people in Na Nghiu village, Luc Binh commune to establish Hop Giang Agricultural Service Cooperative. The main products of the cooperative are edible mushrooms, commercial medicinal mushrooms to supply the local market and then towards expanding to many other provinces and cities.

Success

In May 2018, Hop Giang Agricultural Service Cooperative started producing straw mushrooms, with a factory area of ​​700 sq.m, starting with 8 regular employees. 

In July 2018, the cooperative expanded the factory to 1,500 sq.m and invested in equipment and machinery for production. Up to now, the scale of the cooperative's production space is about 6,000 sq.m, including 640 sq.m executive house, the production area of 5,360 sq.m and has 16 regular employees and 11 seasonal workers.

The revenue of the cooperative has also continuously increased over time, specifically VND900 million in 2018; VND1.3 billion in 2019; more than VND1.5 billion in 2020 and VND2.5 billion in 2021.

The Director of Hop Giang Agricultural Service Cooperative shared that In 2020 and 2021, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the traditional market has been narrowed. However, it has become an opportunity for the cooperative to change the way they approach the market. The promotion of e-commerce has helped customers across the country know about Hop Giang's products.