Mushroom Project
How Philanthropy and Investments can Change the Face of Development
ZERI Foundation has experience bringing development to the impoverished. The last decade has been especially helpful for both organizations to learn and understanding the best ways to bring food, water, sanitation and energy to the villages. ZERI and other organizations like Development Alternatives in India have established concrete projects on the ground in India, Latin America and Africa.
This concept of “franchising” development projects can be first implemented with one program that has demonstrated its viability in Africa, Latin American and recently in India. It is only one of a series of cases that could be rolled out through a network of established contacts.
The objective of this program is to create food security in rural areas for woman and children. This drive towards food security will at the same time offer sanitation, renewable energy, and women empowerment.
The basis is the re-use of agro and forestry waste for farming of mushrooms.
The method of using agro-waste to farm nutrient rich mushrooms only working with biomass left-overs as has been demonstrated in Zimbabwe, Colombia and India. UNDP supported the original work in Africa.
The implementation model to reach thousands in a short span of time is based on a franchising concept. This model has been demonstrated in Colombia.
The organizational framework is: training farmers, creating a network of spore banks and establishing community support centers in each region.
The backbone of the project is the knowledge and experience of Ms Chido Govera and the support structure originally provided by Africa University in general and Mrs. Margaret Tagwira in particular. The program started with technical support of Prof. Dr. S. T. Chang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a grant from the ZERI Fondation.
Chido started her work with agro-waste as an orphan from the countryside some 40 km outside Mutare, Zimbabwe. She received her mushroom farming training at the age of 12, after surviving for 5 years scavenging waste food and working for a bowl of milo after her mother succumbed to the AIDS virus. Now at the age of 22 she has already a decade of experience in training and supporting women and orphans in Zimbabwe, Colombia and India.
By offering support to Ms. Chido Govera and organizing hands-on trainings for her in villages, she can maintain her personal structure and a small lab to continue her research in her home town of Mutare, Zimbabwe. Her charisma, personal story and dedication to other orphans combined with the hands-on technical knowledge and her humble approach to sharing solutions in a way that is easily accessible to the poorest will be an added advantage to her mushroom training.
Organizational Framework
Community Support Center
Communities will be chosen when there are 100 farmers in a region of 20 kilometers in radius. With 100 interested (based on units of 20-25 farmers per village) it will be possible to set-up a Regional Community Support Center with a spore bank. These centers can be made operational off the grid with solar energy so that the necessary refrigeration is available. Each center will have one full time person producing the spores and maintaining the mother cultures of mushrooms. Also available at the center will be the sale of equipment (especially plastic bags that can be recycled) to succeed in the mushroom farming.
Training
Once 100 farmers self-organize and show interest, then Chido will host one week long training course for each village. In groups of 25, the farmers will learn the process of farming mushrooms and will be confident at the end of the week to begin mushroom farming. The training of 25 farmers in four groups takes one month, after which Chido will do a second round to double-check the progress made.
Integration with Existing Initiatives
The ZERI Southern Africa program initiated science learning programs for children based on “Gunter’s Fables” which have been translated in several of the African languages. Several of these programs cover nutrition in general and mushroom farming in particular.
Since mushroom farming requires energy, it offers a complementary activity with the solar cooker program that ZERI Southern Africa has initiated linkages with the local production of the cookers used in the region. This low-cost cooker can add creatively to a host of possibilities related to basic cooking as well as other energy requirements for the mushroom project.
Furthermore, communities need hygiene and the management of sewage water is part and parcel of the overall ZERI strategy. The extensive experience of Prof. George Chan with digesters permits the combination of the local level of nutrition, energy, water and health services. The advantage is that the mushroom production can provide the economic impetus to operate on the other levels simultaneously.
This program assists in the creation of balanced nutrition for the local population with mushrooms and animal protein complementing the maize and beans that serves as the traditional staple food. If integrated with the energy and water program, it offers a baseline for local sustainable communities and women empowerment. The energy, sanitation and empowerment system is thus further enhanced.
ZERI Foundation
