Dubious inoculation practises.


Laurent Demuynck with coworker in the incubation room for Pleurotus substrates.


Pleurotus cultivation on the ground.


with the intention of providing more families with a secure source of income. From the pro- duction site in Byumba, 10 tons of substrate per week are currently distributed to small farmers from the surrounding area. The aim is to grow that figure to 30 tons by 2021. Laurent devised a highly original concept for growing tree oyster mushrooms. He had about twenty straw sheds built. Local growers can use these structures free of charge, provided they buy substrate from Kigali Farms. One load of substrate is enough to cover the 4 m² surface area of one of these straw sheds. The blocks are unwrapped, placed neatly upright then covered


by a few centimetres of soil to keep them moist. The families have 12 weeks to complete the cropping cycle. The system results in quite a substantial output: a yield of up to 40% on the very best substrate blocks in three flushes. The strict rotation time guarantees a regular income and avoids a lot of problems with infections. On the local market oyster mushrooms command €1 to €1.50 per kg, in Kigali up to €2.50.


Substrate and spawn


The blocks weighing 1 kg comprise cottonseed hulls and a variety of local straw types, enriched with bran and a little chalk. The wetted mixture


Ò MUSHROOM BUSINESS 41


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