Civilisation has affected production of mushroom – Awunor

The National Mushroom Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria has lamented the impact of urbanisation and civilisation of the production and consumption of the crop.

 The national president of the association, Chief Micheal Awunor told Daily Trust on Sunday that they had put measures in place to sensitise the people on the economic, nutritional and health benefits of the crop, adding that one of its main benefits is boosting the immune system of those that consume it.

He also said some activities had been lined up by the association to make more people become aware of how to use it for their benefit.

Awunor said, “In order to make the crop popular, we are conducting sensitisation across the country, aimed at bringing people together and telling them about mushrooms, the economic, health and nutritional benefits.

“It is gaining ground on the economic side because people don’t know that you can grow mushrooms. It is not a plant but edible fungi. It does not produce through procreation, nor does it require photosynthesis.”

He said mushrooms had a unique way of producing, adding, “All these are what the sensitisation is aimed at achieving. Beyond that, we have to let people know why they should eat mushrooms because it has enormous health benefits.

 “These days, people just eat rice. If you want to eat rice, mushrooms must be part of your meal, especially with the advent of viral diseases all over the place. One of the principal benefits of mushrooms is immune boosting. And when your immune is well boosted you can’t contact these viral diseases. Mushrooms are well known for that.

 “We are working on a national mushroom summit. We started last year in Abuja; and it is going to be an annual programme to bring all stakeholders from the private and public sectors to evaluate what has been done and the way forward.

“There is another programme we call the National Mushroom Week, which is designed for everybody to come together and have a taste of mushrooms. The idea is to bring people in contact with mushrooms and teach them how to eat it. There is mushroom bread and flour, just to devise a means for people to continue to eat mushroom.”