CABUGAO, Ilocos Sur, Aug 31 (PIA) -- The mushroom culture will give residents here in Cabugao additional source of income.
"Producing them can raise their family income, and give them healthy food," said Zenaida Andrada of the municipal agriculture office of this town.
During the two-day training-seminar this month on mushroom culture in this town, residents and farmers learned about mushrooms, particularly oyster mushroom and puff balls.
The event was conducted by the municipal government, led by Mayor Edgardo Cobangbang with the provincial and regional offices of the Department of Agriculture, which is one way of decreasing poverty and malnutrition in the town.
Using common materials such as hay, sawdust, banana leaves, rice bran, and sugar, with only a small space in a dark part of the house or backyard, a family can produce mushrooms for their own consumption and for retail.
Mushrooms are cholesterol-free and fat-free, low in calories and sodium, and has the minerals selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D, among others.
Gina Rita Sumabat, entrepreneur, Isabelo Alibin, agriculture technician, Editha Castillo, assistant provincial agriculture officer, and Angel Padilla, high-value crops development regional coordinator, explained the importance of mushrooms.
Castillo, who also heads the Provincial Nutrition Council, also taught the trainees simple burger and lumpia recipes that children can enjoy.
At the end of the seminar, the trainees submitted their project proposal and workplan for the year until 2013 to establish mushroom culture as a stable source of income for residents.
The local government unit, Andrada said, shall designate one staff to become the mushroom specialist of the town who will be fully in charge of the project. (ANL/ICR-PIA 1 Ilocos Sur)
