The love Africans have for mushrooms have attained great heights over the years, not all mushrooms are edible but the edible ones are highly nutritious. Diving into the business of mushroom farming is not a bad idea at all especially if you have a zeal for farming. As a matter of fact, mushroom farming is one of the businesses that compensates the farmer handsomely because many do not know how lucrative mushroom farming can get.
If the farmland on which mushrooms are grown are well monitored, mushrooms tend to yield loads of profit in a few weeks, the greatest benefit you enjoy is the fact that the capital you require in starting up the farm is not high and the farming practice does not require great manpower to carry out.
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There are 6 standard stages involved in the production of mushrooms; some of the stages include composting, spawning, casing and pinning.
If you think you are ready to dabble into the business of mushroom farming, then you should consider the following steps and pay close attention to all to get the maximum output.
Starting a Mushroom Farm
Gather reliable information
You need to acquire a lot of reliable information before starting your mushroom farm.You might consider getting information from the internet,getting a book from an agric store or meeting with an experienced mushroom farmer for details. Information like rough estimate of cost,steps to follow as well as type of soil on which mushroom can be grown.
· Visit a mushroom farm
Information gathered directly from source is the best,visit a mushroom farm to see how the activities are run,meet with the farmer and get trained in preparation to own your own mushroom farm and this process opens you up to loads of first hand information.
· Secure a good location
You have to really look well and consider some factors before choosing to practice mushroom farming on a particular piece of land,a relatively sloppy land with a loamy soil is considered preferable.
· Purchase Equipment
Equipment like parking lorry,compost hopper and a mush comb are necessities that should be put in place to get maximum output.This helps to reduce stress and reduce the work time on the farm land.
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· Hire workers
To get the maximum profit from mushroom farming,you have to start moderately big or big if you are buoyant enough.you might not be able to do it all yourself for this you need to employ workers,the workers to be employed must be either experienced or fast learners who you can teach how to maintain the mushroom farm in few days time.
· Advert and Marketing
If you've followed the stages involved in the production of mushrooms then you should have a great harvest.Long before your mushrooms get to the harvesting stage,you have to reach out to many restaurants,both the local ones and those far away to advertise your mushrooms because you don't harvest mushrooms unless you have market for it,you can also liaise with some agricultural institutions before harvesting period too,so when you harvest the mushrooms you deliver them straight to the restaurants and other agric institutions that make us of it for other purposes.
Many have hit it big in the production of mushroom and it's not too late for you to start up your mushroom farm