By Antynet Ford

Former agriculture and climate journalist turned farmer, Bernard Gitau is expanding into pink oyster mushrooms as a super high earner, but warns that the complexity of importing the spawn, which isn’t available locally, may yet delay the new crop’s take off by some months.

“I fell in love with farming mushrooms when I was an active agriculture and climate journalist because it was then that I started learning how to grow them and also look for the market. When I left the newsroom, I started with the farming of vegetables then the whole of last year, I ventured into mushroom,” said Bernard, who left the newsroom, in 2019.

“I grow white and grey oyster mushrooms currently because they are the ones in the market, but I am trying to look for pink. I started with what was in the market and what was easy to manage. The last one year has been a process to learn the tricks of growing mushrooms and be able to establish a market through surveys,” he said. 

“Oyster is easy to manage compared to buttons and so for a starter it’s good to start learning from oyster.”

“I am supposed to start the farming of pink oysters immediately, but to get the spore has been hard. I am trying to see if I can get it from Italy or Australia. KEPHIS has a lot of processes on importing it because it is a microorganism so you cannot just bring it. I need certification, so it is something that may take a lot of time but I am trying to see how best I can get it locally. I want to introduce at least that variety to expand the market,” he said.

Importing mushroom spores into Kenya, handled by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KePHIS), requires applying for a Plant Import Permit through the Plant Import & Quarantine Regulatory System (PIQRS) before the shipment leaves the exporting country.

“The biggest challenge is the sourcing of the spore from other countries, I am trying my best to see how it can be made available locally. The bureaucracy especially for me as a smallholder mushroom farmer is hectic,” he said.

The same limits are holding back many other mushroom varieties that could perform well in Kenya, he said.

“There are many other types of varieties of mushrooms that are very good, but because they are not available locally, it’s hard to farm them because you may even get their market locally. There are other types used to make expensive coffees which makes them even more precious. They are precious because they are used to make expensive coffee even though they are not locally domesticated,” he said.

Bernard’s target market for the pink oyster is the high end hotels in need of the wider varieties of mushrooms, which he said is a ready market as soon as he starts producing.

“The market for the other types of mushroom including pink oyster is there, especially the high end hotels, but there is no supply. That is why I want to tap into the market and be a supplier here in Kenya. I am yet to decide the prices that I will be charging. I will when I will see my consignment of the imported spawn and I have started the propagation,” he said.

“The import only needs to be done once because once I get the spawn, I will be propagating at my farm and also selling the spawn to other farmers who would want to venture into pink oyster,” he said.

“The spawn are normally placed in a test tube, so when it arrives it is when I will now culture. There are companies that sell the spores and we are in communication. When we seal the agreement deal, it is when they will export to me,” he said.

“The request we sent is to see how we can collaborate and know how to get the spawn and how much will it cost,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bernard is continuing to expand in his volume of mushroom, and advises farmers to start small.

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“For you to start farming mushrooms, what you need is a controlled grow house first (controlling temperature and humidity) A mud house or a grass thatched one that has controlled temperature is better for a start. Always use the available materials to reduce the cost of building a permanent structure. If you can spend either Sh5000 or Sh10000, you have the house, then buy like 100 bags, you are good to go. You can start with even 50 bags so that you see how it is growing, look for the market by even taking to your friends and see how it will perform. There is no constant figure to start with. You can start with any. All in all, you have to start somewhere small as you grow.”

Bernard hopes that by the end of the year he will have completed the import process and introduced pink oyster mushrooms to both his production and the local market.

His market for the grey and white oyster is mainly those who buy for value addition and later sell to supermarkets, as he has not applied for the KEBS certification to directly supply to supermarkets and other local retail/ wholesale hypermarkets himself.

He also delivers to friends and people who are referred to him through social media and friends who are aware of his production

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