Thanks to the conversion of production from simple rice to growing many types of medicinal mushrooms, especially black termite mushrooms, Ms. Chau Thi Nuong (47 years old, living in Ta Danh commune, Tri Ton district, An Giang province) has had a high income and helped many local households have stable jobs all year round and reduce poverty.
Growing termite mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms
Talking to Dan Viet reporter, Ms. Chau Thi Nuong (47 years old, living in Ta Danh commune, Tri Ton district, An Giang province) said that she currently has a 3-hectare farm growing mushrooms with high medicinal properties such as black termite mushrooms, lingzhi mushrooms, cordyceps, and abalone.
Ms. Chau Thi Nuong, residing in Ta Danh commune, Tri Ton district, An Giang province, grows black termite mushrooms to increase her income. Photo: HX
Every month, on average, she sells more than 1 ton of medicinal mushrooms of all kinds to the market. Of which, the highest income comes from termite mushrooms.
The main markets for her medicinal mushrooms are wholesale markets, supermarkets, and restaurant chains in An Giang and neighboring localities. In addition to selling medicinal mushrooms, she also sells mushroom spawn and guides customers on how to grow mushrooms as well as supports consumption.
According to calculations, after deducting investment costs, the average profit is about 20% of the mushroom production output. Not only increasing the family's income, her model also helps create regular jobs for 20-30 local people (mainly from Tri Ton district and Tinh Bien town), with a stable income of 4-6 million VND/month, while technical workers earn 8-9 million VND/month.
At peak times, the number of workers hired for Ms. Nuong's mushroom growing model can increase to 50 people, most of whom are Khmer ethnic people.
Ms. Chau Thi Nuong has a 3-hectare farm growing mushrooms with high medicinal properties such as black termite mushrooms, lingzhi mushrooms, cordyceps, and abalone. Photo: Huynh Xay
"My mushroom growing model has greatly supported local people in terms of employment. From there, it helps disadvantaged Khmer women have stable jobs, and helps young people not have to work far from home" - Ms. Nuong shared.
According to Ms. Nuong, her family's medicinal mushroom growing model follows a circular, closed-loop process, and especially does not use any fertilizers or pesticides. Therefore, the working environment is very "green" and "comfortable".
This place mainly uses agricultural waste such as straw and rice bran to make growing medium for Ganoderma and Cordyceps mushrooms. The residue from the mushroom spawn will be used to grow other mushrooms or raise earthworms. Earthworms will then be used to grow crops and rice very well. After harvesting crops and rice, she continues to use this waste source to make mushroom spawn.
Constantly transforming to develop, for more sustainable income
To achieve the above results, Ms. Nuong spent many years converting from a simple rice growing model, which not only did not bring high income but was also often unstable.
Ms. Chau Thi Nuong regularly participates in medicinal mushroom promotion activities organized by the agricultural industry. Photo: HX
"Previously, my family only grew rice. Since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, I noticed that many people were sick and in poor health due to eating foods with a lot of chemicals and unclear origins. Medicinal mushrooms can purify the body, have high nutritional value, help users have good health, and fight diseases. Therefore, I started researching and learning how to grow medicinal mushrooms" - Ms. Nuong shared.
Regarding black termite mushrooms, Ms. Nuong informed that they contain a lot of organic protein, many vitamins, amino acids and many essential minerals as well as bringing many special uses in both Eastern and Western medicine. Because they are grown in a completely closed process, her termite mushrooms do not have a bad smell but are also delicious, crispy and sweet. This is also the reason why her termite mushrooms can replace MSG in preparing daily dishes.
To expand production scale, also in 2020, she established Ta Danh Agricultural Cooperative. At this time, she also continuously invested in machinery and equipment in the mushroom production process and took the brand name "Nuong Farm".
In addition, to optimize production costs as well as increase productivity and profits from growing medicinal mushrooms, recently, the Director of Ta Danh Agricultural Cooperative has also used solar panels on his farm.
The director of Ta Danh Agricultural Cooperative said that when installing solar panels, the temperature in the mushroom growing area is cool, meeting the right humidity for good growth. Meanwhile, places without solar panels have high temperatures, requiring additional investment in a machine to cool the temperature.
Medicinal mushroom growing area of Ms. Chau Thi Nuong. Photo: HX
Medicinal mushroom products of Ms. Chau Thi Nuong.
The cooperative's solar panel installation scale is 2.2 hectares, with a total investment of nearly 45 billion VND. In addition to providing electricity for production, helping to increase mushroom productivity by 30-40% compared to growing without solar panels, helping to reduce costs by about 30%, this place also has a huge source of income from selling electricity (each year, the electricity sales revenue is nearly 1.5 billion VND/year). It is known that the investment cost has also been recovered.
Ms. Nuong affirmed: "Installing solar panels helps the model develop more effectively. This method also helps reduce emissions, moving towards Net Zero agriculture."
Regarding future plans, Ms. Nuong said that she will invest in a homestay at the farm for visitors to experience how to grow, care for and enjoy dishes made from medicinal mushrooms. At the same time, she will continue to invest in technology in the post-harvest mushroom processing stage.
From the model of utilizing rice straw to produce black termite mushroom spawn, in 2022, Ms. Chau Thi Nuong won first prize in the agricultural livelihood initiative competition organized by the Center for Research on Resources and Rural Development. In 2023, with the same product, she entered the "Top 10 best enterprises" in the Vietnam ESG Initiative competition organized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in coordination with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Source: https://danviet.vn/chi-nong-dan-an-giang-trong-cac-loai-nam-lam-thuoc-tao-vo-so-viec-lam-tang-thu-nhap-cho-ho-ngheo-20250225130944932.htm
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