This archive report was first published on 30 November 2019.
Faces behind mushroom boom in city ¶
On the shelves of Naivas supermarket in Westlands, Nairobi, beautiful white mushrooms packed in purple punnets catch the eye. These are the handiwork of Maurice Ikonya and other young farmers who supply them through their association to the retail chain.
Ikonya, 28, is the vice-chairman of the Mushroom Growers Association of Kenya. The association has 100 members in 23 counties, supplying 250-300kg of mushrooms every week to supermarkets and hotels.
"We get 250-300kg of mushrooms every week from our 100 members in 23 counties and distribute them to supermarkets and hotels where we are listed as suppliers," Ikonya says.
Ikonya's mushroom farm in Kangemi, Nairobi, is a 10-by-15-foot semi-permanent house on a part of an eighth of an acre. Inside, he grows 645-665 mushroom plants at various stages of growth.
Ikonya started the business over a year ago with Sh150,000 from his savings. He used the money to purchase substrate and establish the mushroom house. He sources mushroom seeds (spawn) from South Africa, as obtaining them locally is a challenge.
Ikonya farms the button mushroom species, which is popular among customers and has high nutritional value. He adds value to the produce by making 'star fry', a delicacy made from eight different vegetables and mushrooms.
Ikonya and the rest of the members of the association are currently spreading their wings to Nakuru, Kajiado, Kisumu, and Laikipia. They believe mushroom is a good crop because it does not depend on the weather and is climate-smart.
According to Antony Maina, a mushroom specialist trained at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, mushrooms are rich in protein and low in fat and cholesterol content. Button mushroom can also be grown using simple agricultural waste like the water hyacinth that grows in Lake Victoria.
