From garment worker to mushroom farm owner

JOURNEY TO BECOME A MUSHROOM FARM OWNER

More than 15 years ago, Ms. Thuy and her husband were attached to 2 hectares of garden land growing longan and grapefruit. However, the income from these 2 hectares of garden was not high, not enough to cover daily living expenses. They had to leave Thoi Son island to work as garment workers to make a living.

Ms. Huynh Thanh Thuy next to her family's mushroom farm.

And then, the turning point came to Thuy and her husband. A relative, after successfully starting a mushroom growing business, advised the couple to return to their hometown to do business. This person wholeheartedly guided them through all the secrets and supported them with investment capital, helping them start a business right on their homeland.

The journey of starting a business has never been easy. Thuy and her husband knew nothing about mushroom growing techniques, so the first days of starting a business encountered many difficulties. Huynh Thanh Thuy said that the road from the beginning of Highway 94C leading to her house at that time was just a small path. All raw materials had to be pushed by bicycle for nearly a kilometer.

This Thoi Son island was very low-lying at that time, often flooded, especially during high tides from August to October of the lunar calendar. Once, a high tide washed away a batch of hundreds of bags of mushrooms hanging in the farm.

According to Ms. Thuy, mushroom growing depends on the weather. There were periods of heavy rain and unstable temperatures that caused the entire steamer to break down, causing a near total loss, resulting in tens of millions in losses. Her family had to temporarily stop production for nearly a year to clean up and reprocess the entire farm.

But those failures did not discourage Ms. Thuy. Together, she and her husband explored, learned from experience, and gradually mastered the technical process.

Accordingly, the first step is to compost dry sawdust with lime water (to treat pathogens) and add corn bran or rice bran to provide nutrients. After being sufficiently moistened, the sawdust is put into plastic bags.

The next important step is sterilization. The bags will be put into a steam oven and the temperature must be maintained at exactly 100°C for 10 hours to kill bacteria. After steaming, the bags are left to cool for 24 hours before being inoculated with mushroom spawn.

The mushroom spawn will “eat” and spread throughout the sawdust bag, which is called mycelium. This incubation process takes 60 days. After 2 months of incubation, the mushrooms will start to grow. Each planting period lasts 3 months and will yield 6 batches of mushrooms (1 batch every half month).

The land does not fail those who grow it, and the first batches of mushrooms were successful. After only about two crops, the couple recovered their capital. Up to now, Ms. Thuy's family has 6 mushroom farms, providing stable products to traders in the province and Binh Dien wholesale market ( Ho Chi Minh City). On average, each year, after deducting expenses, the family still makes a profit of over 130 million VND.

Ms. Thuy said: “This job is mainly about making money by working. A bag of mushrooms, after deducting all expenses, makes a profit of about 3,000 VND, but that is the result of the whole family.”

PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Thoi Son Islet is a famous tourist destination at home and abroad. Local people have taken advantage of the natural conditions to develop community tourism and garden ecology. To develop the economy, Ms. Thuy and many local people participate in the community tourism chain.

Ms. Huynh Thanh Thuy successfully started her business growing oyster mushrooms.

Accordingly, when coming to Ms. Thuy's farm, visitors will experience the oyster mushroom production process. In addition, visitors can also pick the freshest oyster mushrooms themselves.

More specially, visitors will enjoy hot fried crispy oyster mushrooms, prepared right at the farm.

Many visitors here have expressed their interest in experiencing mushroom growing and understanding the hard work of farmers. More and more visitors know about her family's mushroom farm.

It can be seen that the model of growing oyster mushrooms combined with community tourism has brought about efficiency. The model not only helps Ms. Thuy's family develop the economy, but also opens up a new direction, contributing to promoting the development of agricultural tourism in the locality.

ANH THU

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/tu-cong-nhan-may-thanh-chu-trang-trai-nam-a233785.html