Rodney Nyamutswa in the shed where his oyster mushrooms grow. “This is my best year to date.”


Eva de Vries travelled through Zimbabwe on behalf of Mushroom Business and visited three mushroom farms. The growers are united by their passion for mushrooms and the desire to share and spread their knowledge.


The SOKO Mushrooms sisters in Ruwa The vehicle bounces and bumps over the sandy track. The capital Harare is behind us and we are approaching our first port of call: the farm run by the ‘SOKO sisters’ just outside the town of Ruwa. The yard looks a little disorganised, but is buzzing with activity. Sitting in the shade of a tree are Rumbi (34) and Kundai (28) Musarurwa. They tell us the story of their enterprise SOKO Mushrooms, which the two sisters run with their older sister, Eleanor (36), who lives in America. The sisters were born and bred here on the family farm, where their mother used to grow mushrooms. In 2007, when Zimbabwe was driven into a deep economic depression following land reform (see box), they ceased growing mushrooms. “Our mother is our mentor”, says Rumbi. “She inspired us to start mushroom growing again, so we breathed new life into the business in 2012.” The sisters cultivate button and oyster mushrooms using Sylvan spawn from South Africa. Finding a source of funding was complicated, so they invested their savings in starting the company. It was also difficult to find spawn. “It was a challenging time, we make progress step-by-step.” The roles within the company were, however, soon defined. Kundai is responsi- ble for production, Rumbi’s role, as a ‘good speaker’, is the relationship with customers, and from her base in the USA, Eleanor is in charge of marketing and communication. They named their company ‘SOKO’. “Soko means monkey is Shona, our local language, and the monkey is our family’s totem. It also means market in Swahili”, explains Rumbi.


No electricity Kunda showed us around the four brick-built sheds, each measuring about 25 m2


hours. After that I spread a layer of four centime- tres on the surface of the trays.” Kundai examines the thousands of tiny pinheads that start to emerge. “It is now really important to keep the temperature low, so we can start harvesting in a couple of weeks.” According to Kundai, the yield is around 9 kg/m2


. The compost is replaced after five . Only two are


being used at the moment: one for button mushrooms and one for oyster mushrooms. “We often have power outages in the daytime, and to grow mushrooms we need climate control. This is our way of minimising the risk of losing the entire harvest.”


The dark and moist growing sheds feature shelving that holds wooden trays that are filled with a substrate made of wheat straw, calcium carbonate, urea, gypsum, horse manure and chicken litter. Kundai’s love of the cultivation and production process is reflected in her words. “The casing soil contains peat. We spray it with water by hand and then pasteurise the casing for six


or six flushes. In the adjacent shed, ‘easy to grow’ oyster mushrooms are cultivated. The majority of growers in Zimbabwe choose this variety. There is no need for temperature control or compost, and oyster mushrooms can grow on practically any medium. The bags of substrate hang from metal shelving, and white oyster mushrooms can be seen poking out here and there. “We make the substrate ourselves using 25% wheat straw and 75% cottonseed hulls”, explains Kundai, “Harves- ting the oyster mushrooms is done once a week.” Practically the entire cycle involved in producing both varieties of mushrooms takes place on their farm. “That’s the beauty of mushrooms, they grow on waste that would otherwise not be utilised to create something valuable.” When all the rooms are productive, the sisters grow 1000 kg of mushrooms per month. This figure has hovered around just 500 kg in the past few months. SOKO serves the local market and delivers to the SPAR supermarkets in Harare with its own vehicle. “We are not very happy with the current prices ..”, says Rumbi, “..but the crisis means we get paid between just three and five dollars a kilo.” She glances at her phone before jumping up; there are still a couple of customers to visit. A while later, she reappears wearing a dress and high heels. “Many people in the city can’t believe I’m a farmer. Men here aren’t fond of strong, independent women”, she laughs. “In ten years we want to be the leading grower in the country and help others grow their own mushrooms. I sincerely hope that once again Zimbabwe can become the grain store of Africa.”


Rodney’s 5 Seasons in Mutare The next mushroom grower on our list is located


Mushrooms from Zimbabwe are no longer


exported, as local production cannot meet the


demanded levels.


Ò MUSHROOM BUSINESS 21


Photo: Cynthia Matonhodze.


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