Stories from the ground

Sister Rose initiates a high yielding mushroom project.

Sr. Rose is training communities around the area to engage in mushroom farming as a means to supplement their nutrition and generate income.

Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, Rose Namwombwe tends her mushroom project at the basement of her community.

Sisters have shown that you do not need to have a large farm to increase food security, at the basement of the convents in Entebbe, Immaculate of Mary Reparatrix, Sister Rose Namwombwe, initiated a mushroom project that is high yielding and pays well. Mushroom growing is not a complicated process. It is easy to learn and to maintain with low startup costs and returns are evident within three months from the initial startup of the project. Oyster mushroom is a brand commonly grown in Uganda. Mushrooms grow in a dark area; plastic bags are filled with dirt (e.g. waste products, grass straw), and holes are made into the polythene bag where mushroom will grow out and to make it easy in watering. Harvesting mushrooms starts within 14 days and can last up to 2-months from one bag of waste – an incredible project. The cost of one kilogram of mushroom is Uganda Shilling 3,500 ($1.25).

What Sr. Rose thought would be a test project has turned out to be a very productive enterprise. Rose is training communities around the area to engage in mushroom farming as a means to supplement their nutrition and generate income.

Five hundred plants will yield over 5,000 kilograms; supermarkets are waiting for the produce.