Ghana has capacity to produce mushroom on international scale

Mr John Yaw Asubonteng, Chief Executive Officer of the Mushroom and Grasscutter Production, has said that Ghana had the capacity to produce the fleshy fungi on international scale.

He said Ghana was endowed with the natural resources to produce mushrooms for the international market but the realisation that this could be done was lacking.

Mr Asubonteng was speaking at a five-day workshop on mushroom and grasscutter production, for members of the Kumasi branch of the Mushroom and Grasscutter Producers Association in Kumasi at the weekend.

The workshop was organised by the Food Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with the Mushroom and Grasscutter Producers.

It was aimed at sensitise participants on the scientific and modern methods of mushroom and grasscutter production to enable them to produce not only for local consumption but also for export.

Mr Asubonteng said Africa accounted for only one per cent of the 30 billion dollars that was earned from the world production of fleshy fungi fleshy fungi.

He, therefore, appealed to farmers in the country to intensify their efforts to produce more mushrooms that would be accepted internally.

Mr Richard K. Takli, a Senior Micro-biologist of the FORIG, said although Ghana was lacking behind in the production of mushrooms internationally, farmers could be encouraged to produce more.

He suggested the granting of a patent right to farmers who produce mushrooms saying that this could encourage the farmers to produce more and would also enable the country to earn more foreign exchange.