AIMING for the continuous improvement of the deployable Mushroom Growing House project that contributes to ensuring food security, the Department of Science and Technology Provincial Office in Laguna (DOST-Laguna) and Laguna State Polytechnic University (LSPU)-Siniloan Campus conducted a benchmarking activity last February 20 to 22.
Representatives from DOST-Laguna and LSPU-Siniloan traveled all the way to Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in Nueva Ecija and Benguet State University (BSU) in La Trinidad to learn about their best practices in implementing similar mushroom projects.
The LSPU Mushroom project team, led by Dr. Charmyne Sanglay, proposed to hold this activity in order to develop more advanced and stable project sites that are patterned from the acclaimed and successful mushroom project of the CLSU and BSU.
CLSU’s project under the Tuklas Lunas Program, funded by DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), mainly focuses on producing shelf stable food products or food that can be safely stored at room temperature, using wild edible mushrooms.
Based on discussions with CLSU, raw materials are abundantly available in their area and they are developing a wide variety of Mushroom. They are even interested to explore all varieties from the wild in their quest to research their medicinal properties.
The university also have simpler formulation for substrates, for they use only three major raw materials such as rice straw, sawdust and lime. The design of their Pasteurization Equipment allows the simultaneous pasteurization of 80 – 100 bags per batch. Hence, their selling price of fruiting bags is at Php 30.00 per piece that is the same as DOST-LSPU’s Mushroom project in Laguna Province.
However, CLSU is focused on experimental activities and is not engaging in developing the enterprise aspect of the project.
Meanwhile, BSU operates a Mushroom production and processing project under the Sariling Sikap Program. The University employs income generating projects (IGPs) under the University Business Affairs (UBA) office which they use for supplementing the annual subsidy they are receiving from the General Appropriation Act (GAA).
The price of their fruiting bags is Php 50.00 per piece which is higher compared with CLSU’s and LSPU’s. Based on their consultative discussion, this is due to the distant sources of substrates used which are coming from nearby provinces of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan.
The BSU utilizes a Traditional Artisan Technology in their project. Biomass (or made of materials from living organisms like plants and animals) is used to fuel the Pasteurization method, which is similar to a pressure cooker. The humidity in their location is consistently favorable to mushroom growing that in result enables them to produce all year round. This is unlike the situation in Laguna, in which they need to
set up a controlled environment during summer months through a deployable mushroom house that is more costly.
BSU is also known as a leader in Mushroom Technology as the pioneer of said technology. And being one of the main tourism destination in the North provided them the advantage in marketing their produce.
Jenny Lawas of DOST-CALABARZON, Wilma Del Rosario of DOST-Laguna, and Sanglay, the Project Leader of Mushroom Project in Siniloan, joined the benchmarking activity.
The collated learnings on the best practices and innovations of the respective mushroom projects of CLSU and BSU are beneficial to the advancement and further mechanization of the current Mushroom growing technology of the DOST-Laguna and LSPU-Siniloan.
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