The commonly used substrates in Zambia include agriculture residues from maize, wheat, soya beans, beans groundnuts, and others. The most accessible substrate especially maize residues will be utilized for mushroom growing. During this process, I used agricultural residues including wheat straw, bean stalks, soya bean stalks, and maize residues which were collected from farms. These attracted the cost of transportation from the fields to the mushroom shelter which was around 15 euros per month.
The substrate is processed by boiling it in drums to remove any bacteria that might affect the growth of the mushrooms. The processed substrate is put into buckets or polythene bags. After this, the process of spawning or sowing of the mushroom seed in the buckets/bags containing the growing substrate is done.
