Mushroom feasibility study team in Fiji

Submitted by Narayan24 on Tue, 26/01/2010 - 11:45am

and other senior management to share their views on the commercial production of mushrooms in Fiji.

The team is here to study and optimise the production and benefits of Fiji's mushroom business. The mushroom technology, which originated from the Fujian University, has spread to 31 provinces in China.

According to Professor Linping Wang, they have a chain of 1,100 foreign experts working on the technology which can benefit Fiji in the areas of poverty alleviation, employment opportunities, food security and environment protection.

“Simplified demonstration models have been set up in countries such as Africa and Papua New Guinea (PNG) and farmers find it easy to adopt which brings in quick flow of income,” Prof Wang said.

She added that Fiji has ideal temperatures and humidity levels for mushroom farming to thrive. Planting one hectare of grass will be able to yield 500 tonnes of grass, which can be used to grow 150 tonnes of fresh mushroom. Prof Wang said 46 different grass species can be utilised to grow 55 different mushroom species and the majority can be grown in Fiji.

“The purpose of this study is to identify which species can grow successfully in Fiji," Professsor Wang added.

Mr Cokanasiga said mushroom is a lucrative crop as it fetches a high retail price and it is a good opportunity for locals to learn and enter commercially in this business.

Mushroom is a new commodity in Fiji with a small number of people cultivating it in small scale. Most of it grows wild around the country and are not edible, while cultivators of edible mushrooms farm it either as a hobby or domestic consumption.

Most edible mushrooms sold in Fiji are imported and around 18 percent are re-exported to other Pacific Island countries, Australia, and North America.

From 2006 to 2008, the import value of mushrooms averaged around FJD$500,000 annually while the annual re-export value was less than $100,000.

Imported mushrooms come in the form of fresh (57 percent), prepared/preserved (35 percent) and dried (8 percent). There is an existing local demand for mushrooms from supermarkets, restaurants and the tourism sector. Fresh mushroom varieties sold locally include Button, Flat, Oyster, Enoki, and Shitake.

Fiji has the potential to produce mushrooms in large scale through Government support and resource availability.