Mushrooming incomes for Tanzanian farmers

10 July 2013

Photo: Ibrahim at his mushroom farm

Ibrahim Dahaye is just one of over 200 smallholder farmers in the Babati district of the Nou Forest in northern Tanzania benefitting from Farm Africa training in mushroom growing and marketing.

Ibrahim began mushroom growing in 2010. Before that, he had to sell part of his annual harvest of maize and beans to meet household costs, leaving him without enough food to feed his family for the whole year. But, his mushroom growing sideline has been so successful that he has managed to double his output year on year.

Sales of his dried mushrooms now generate enough income that he no longer has to sell any of his family’s food supply. Ibrahim can now feed his family and meet the schooling costs for his children. “I can buy them school uniforms and exercise books,” says Ibrahim.

An attractive sideline

This type of small-scale mushroom farming can be an attractive sideline for farmers like Ibrahim because it requires little capital investment or access to land. The mushrooms are grown in temporary shelters using agricultural waste. They also require little maintenance, leaving farmers free to continue cultivating their existing food crops.

Indeed, Ibrahim has proved so successful that the extra income that his mushrooms have generated has also enabled him to build a second house.

And he has also taken on the role of lead farmer, which means he is now sharing his knowledge and expertise with other local farmers. Currently, he is training five other farmers, as part of an ongoing initiative to spread the benefits of mushroom growing throughout the region.

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