On harvest day, officers and soldiers gently and carefully lifted each cluster of mushrooms, placing them into baskets, their lotus-shaped caps brimming with vitality. With 4,000 clean mushroom substrates and good quality mushrooms, the fifth harvest in 2025 yielded over 60kg.

The grey oyster mushroom cultivation area of ​​Company 29 was repurposed from the unit's old barracks, covering approximately 50 square meters . Based on research into the growth characteristics of this mushroom species, the unit carried out careful renovations, covering, and sanitation to ensure optimal temperature, humidity, and light conditions for mushroom growth and optimal yield. Inside the cultivation area, nine horizontal racks for holding substrates were arranged, with a scientifically organized space to meet the necessary conditions for care, growth, and harvesting.

Harvesting grey oyster mushrooms at Company 29, Logistics-Technical Department, 7th Division.

Major Nguyen Hoang Nam, Commander of Company 29, said: "Grey oyster mushrooms are also known as chewy mushrooms or oyster mushrooms. This type of mushroom has a relatively high protein content and contains many nutrients beneficial to the body. Caring for grey oyster mushrooms is not complicated, but it requires meticulous attention. Precise timing is crucial when opening the substrate for mushroom growth. The method of injecting the spawn, watering, and harvesting all require prior technical guidance to avoid damaging the substrate and mushrooms."

This type of mushroom can be harvested year-round. After harvesting, the inside of the mushroom bed must be thoroughly cleaned, the opening sealed tightly, and the substrate carefully incubated. After about two weeks, the spawn is added, and the substrate is opened to allow the mushrooms to grow. With proper care, each substrate will yield 300-400 grams of mushrooms after about 5-7 harvests.

Since the beginning of 2025, after 5 harvests, the total yield of grey oyster mushrooms from Company 29 reached 320kg, of good quality. At the market price of 37,000 VND/kg, after deducting input and output costs, the unit has a stable source of income to contribute to its capital fund, improving the living standards of the soldiers. The unit members are very pleased. Furthermore, this is a clean, healthy product, so many soldiers in the Division prefer it and regularly contact the company to purchase it for daily meals at home. Many small traders have also contacted the company to ensure a market for the product.

Looking at the mushrooms growing densely, completely covering the substrate, their thin, taut caps and slightly curled edges at their most beautiful stage, we felt this was the result of the 29th Company's determination to innovate and take the lead. Achieving this result was a long process, involving many changes in methods and techniques for cultivating and preparing the substrate to ensure suitability and high productivity. Besides learning cultivation and care techniques from books, newspapers, and social media, many soldiers, during their leave to visit their families, would visit large local mushroom farms to learn from their experience.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dinh Kien, Head of Logistics and Technical Services of the 7th Division, affirmed that the model of cultivating grey oyster mushrooms by Company 29 demonstrates the unit's logistics work has many innovations and creative approaches suitable to the unit's agricultural production characteristics. The Division Command is very interested in and provides favorable conditions and encouragement for the soldiers to implement it. In the future, the Division will have a plan for other units to visit, learn from, and encourage the replication of this model, contributing to the steady progress of agricultural production, ensuring better and more effective support, and improving the quality of life for the soldiers.

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/quoc-phong-an-ninh/xay-dung-quan-doi/bo-doi-hau-can-ky-thuat-thoi-ky-moi-dau-an-moi-hieu-qua-trong-nam-bao-ngu-xam-906538