Mushrooms for Well Being Foundation Projects
Mushrooms in Ghana Project
Timeline
Production at Bemcom during the course of the project:
• 2007 – 1,200 kilos a week
• 2009 – 2,700 kilos a week
• 2011 – 4,200 kilos a week
• 2014 – 6,000-8,000 kilos a week
• 2016 – 8,000-9,000 kilos a week
Member farmers: From 160 in 2007 to over 750 in 2016
Mushrooms for Well Being Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Donations are tax deductible.
• 2007 – 1,200 kilos a week
• 2009 – 2,700 kilos a week
• 2011 – 4,200 kilos a week
• 2014 – 6,000-8,000 kilos a week
• 2016 – 8,000-9,000 kilos a week
Member farmers: From 160 in 2007 to over 750 in 2016
Mushrooms for Well Being Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Donations are tax deductible.
In collaboration with the non-profit Bemcom Training and Resource Center/Youth Enterprises Association (BYEA), Mushrooms for Well Being Foundation- Mushrooms in Ghana Project is building a laboratory to make spawn -- the mushroom seed material – so more farmers can grow more mushrooms throughout West Africa. “Freedom from Poverty” is Bemcom’s motto, step-by-step becoming possible for many.
Small-scale mushroom farming is a proven tool for sustainable economic development and food security. People in developing countries who want to grow oyster mushrooms to feed their families and communities, improve personal and public health, and rise out of poverty into financial stability can. What’s stopping them? Spawn – there is not enough healthy spawn produced in Africa, Central and South America, and other non-industrialized areas. In many places where spawn is made, lack of equipment and training limit the quantity and the quality of the available spawn.
Ghana has over 12,000 mushroom farmers and only one registered laboratory to make spawn. That lab, doing the best it can, cannot meet the spawn needs for Bemcom – much less for the rest of the country.
Small-scale mushroom farming is a proven tool for sustainable economic development and food security. People in developing countries who want to grow oyster mushrooms to feed their families and communities, improve personal and public health, and rise out of poverty into financial stability can. What’s stopping them? Spawn – there is not enough healthy spawn produced in Africa, Central and South America, and other non-industrialized areas. In many places where spawn is made, lack of equipment and training limit the quantity and the quality of the available spawn.
Ghana has over 12,000 mushroom farmers and only one registered laboratory to make spawn. That lab, doing the best it can, cannot meet the spawn needs for Bemcom – much less for the rest of the country.
Oyster mushrooms:
• Are high in protein, vitamins and minerals, especially folic acid – good for pregnant women.
• Contain lovastatin (the primary ingredient in the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor)
• Are used as a nerve tonic/treatment for nerve- related diseases
• Reduce and prevent inflammation associated with pancreatitis
• Stop the progression toward fibrogenesis (the formation of excess fibrous tissue in an organ or
body part from inflammation, irritation, or healing, i.e. scar tissue)
• Contain compounds that fight tumors and viruses
• Act as an antibiotic active against both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms.
In 2007 Bemcom’s mushroom cooperative had 160 active oyster mushroom farmers. In 2018, that number is over 2,200.
In 2007 oyster mushroom bag production was 1,200 bags a week. In 2016 Bemcom was producing 8,000-9,000 bags a week with 45,000-50,000 in continuous production. In 2018, the number of bags was reduced to 5,000-7,000, due to spawn challenges.
Ghana has over 12,000 mushroom farmers and only one registered laboratory to make spawn (the mushroom seed material). That lab, doing the best it can, cannot meet the spawn needs for Bemcom – much less for the rest of the country.
Mushrooms in Ghana Project is assisting with:
• Farmer and consumer education
• Training and teaching tools
• Mushroom production materials and supplies
• Equipment and funding for a laboratory to produce spawn (the mushroom seed material)
• Are high in protein, vitamins and minerals, especially folic acid – good for pregnant women.
• Contain lovastatin (the primary ingredient in the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor)
• Are used as a nerve tonic/treatment for nerve- related diseases
• Reduce and prevent inflammation associated with pancreatitis
• Stop the progression toward fibrogenesis (the formation of excess fibrous tissue in an organ or
body part from inflammation, irritation, or healing, i.e. scar tissue)
• Contain compounds that fight tumors and viruses
• Act as an antibiotic active against both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms.
In 2007 Bemcom’s mushroom cooperative had 160 active oyster mushroom farmers. In 2018, that number is over 2,200.
In 2007 oyster mushroom bag production was 1,200 bags a week. In 2016 Bemcom was producing 8,000-9,000 bags a week with 45,000-50,000 in continuous production. In 2018, the number of bags was reduced to 5,000-7,000, due to spawn challenges.
Ghana has over 12,000 mushroom farmers and only one registered laboratory to make spawn (the mushroom seed material). That lab, doing the best it can, cannot meet the spawn needs for Bemcom – much less for the rest of the country.
Mushrooms in Ghana Project is assisting with:
• Farmer and consumer education
• Training and teaching tools
• Mushroom production materials and supplies
• Equipment and funding for a laboratory to produce spawn (the mushroom seed material)
CURRENT NEWS - Mushrooms in Ghana
Projects - 2016
The Spawn Laboratory
Lost Creek Mushroom Farm has donated a portion of all sales to the project. MIG has provided most of the equipment required for the laboratory. The equipment is too large for the current facility and major renovation is required, including electrical, plumbing, and sterile-room provisions. Shiitake Mama and Douglass were in in Ghana in 2016. The project supplied lab equipment, spawn, an LED projector for training, equipment and materials for processing and packaging, and supported programs, demonstrations and training for farmers. In addition Bernard Bempah and the Williams’ developed design and construction plans for the laboratory. Bemcom has purchased the land, will have it graded for construction and will move and restructure the livestock area to reduce the possibility of contamination. The estimated cost of the Bemcom-Williams West African Mushroom Spawn Laboratory is $100,000. 1,000 people giving $100 will build this laboratory.
Please support Mushrooms in Ghana Project with your generous donations. Please contact people, especially Ghanaians, who can make this dream, “Freedom from Poverty,” a reality. Encourage their involvement! A spawn lab can provide thousands of farmers with sustainable economic security. Hundreds of thousands of consumers can have healthy, low-cost, high-protein food throughout West Africa.
Thank you – Let this be just the beginning!
Please support Mushrooms in Ghana Project with your generous donations. Please contact people, especially Ghanaians, who can make this dream, “Freedom from Poverty,” a reality. Encourage their involvement! A spawn lab can provide thousands of farmers with sustainable economic security. Hundreds of thousands of consumers can have healthy, low-cost, high-protein food throughout West Africa.
Thank you – Let this be just the beginning!