Integrated Farming Helps Fight AIDS in Africa
Margaret Tagwira has used her expertise as a Virologist to create a innovative sustainable development approach from her base at the United Methodist-supported Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Inspired by the ZERI methodology and George Chan’s work, she has pioneered a new type of mushroom farming that has been showcased by Web of Hope and is truly an inspiration to many of us.
Margaret Tagwira, Inspired by the ZERI methodology has developed a very innovative way of taking a problem and turning it into an opportunity. What she realized is that while the fact that water hyacinth as a fast-growing ‘weed’ which chokes and stagnates water courses has many negative consequences it also has valuable applications as a biomass energy source.
From her base at the United Methodist-supported Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, she has used her expertise as a lab technician to create the ZERI Mushroom Project which uses water hyacinth as a feedstock to sustain a new type of mushroom farming.
Build Biomass Rapidly with Mushrooms to Heal People and the Earth
Scientific research initiated by Margaret Tagwira for ZERI indicates that the substrate of water hyacinth is rich in minerals and allowing for the very rapid growth. Some species only need 10 days between inoculation and fruiting, which is probably the fastest turnaround of a waste into a rich source of essential amino acids, a core component in the food intake. Gunter Pauli cites Mshigeni, Keto e.a. (Proceedings of the Fourth World Congress on Zero Emissions, University of Namibia, Windhoek) to back up the assertion that “Margaret Tagwira, in a peer reviewed article in 1997, noted that 100 lbs of dried water hyacinth could produce up to 240 lbs of fresh mushrooms.”
I found more of what seemed to be a more complete description of the research mentioned above at the Aquaculture blog (I did not however find the original peer reviewed references for the below assertions):
Scientific research initiated by Margaret Tagwira for ZERI Foundation demonstrated that dried water hyacinth is the best substrate for farming mushrooms. This program directed by Prof. S. T. Chang, an authority on the matter, confirmed that the water hyacinth is a blessing in disguise. Sociological studies confirmed that nearly all African cultures had mushrooms as a part of their diet. The spent substrate after fungi harvesting is rich in protein from the mycelia of the mushrooms and are excellent feed for earthworms, which convert it all into humus and can be fed to chickens, ducks and pigs.
After only 30 days, the dried substrate from water hyacinth produced a variety of mushrooms. Once harvested, it did not take more than ten days to harvest a second and even a third flush. One hundred kilograms of dried water hyacinth generates more than 100 kilograms of mushrooms. The water hyacinth outperforms traditional substrate materials such as sawdust. In addition, since the substrate of water hyacinth is rich in minerals and nutrients, the oyster and straw mushrooms cultivated ended up enriched with potassium, magnesium, iodine and calcium, along with numerous other components that are critical to a healthy food diet. Much of what was lost in the form of washed away topsoil can be recovered in the mushroom. The water hyacinth can also recover harmful metals such as cadmium and lead and store them in their roots if these metals are found in the rivers or lakes.
Mushrooms as Low Cost Locally Grown Nutracuticals
Mushrooms are not only nutritious, but several ones are recognized as medicinal such as the Oyster Mushroom. For example they contain terpinoids and polysaccharide proteins (PSP) which strengthen the immune system against virus. So mushrooms are not allopathic; they do not attempt to kill a virus or eliminate a toxin but merely strengthen the immune system thus rendering the detrimental activities of toxins less or ineffective. This reduces the need for antibiotics in populations which could be a very significant development in underserved communities.
Gunter Pauli notes (in the same paper as he is referenced in above) that, “the farming of mushrooms is thus more than just the provision of healthy food, converting some waste into an edible product, it can also be considered preventive medicine. This is another example of how it is possible to combine very diverse agendas into one system.”
The substrate has to be prepared for mushroom farming. This usually means sterilization and this which requires a large energy input and capital investments. However, several projects in Africa and Asia have demonstrated that fermentation is a viable alternative. It does this by bringing the pH down so that competing mirco-organisms are eliminated, and allowing mushroom enzymes to degrade the substrate into something more digestable for other plants.
“Fighting AIDS with Mushrooms”
Margaret domesticated a local variety of ganoderma lucidum , a prime medicinal mushroom, which is now grown by HIV orphans as part of an educational programme. Ganoderma lucidum has been used in China for thousands of years because of its ability to strengthen the immune system. Ganoderma lucidum otherwise known as Oyster Mushrooms are believed to help fight the AIDS virus. In the program children enhance their immune systems without having to depend on expensive medicines developed in the West. The orphans are learning spawn preparation and they grow mushrooms on their own and market them for their salaries. Although only 16 and 17 years old now, they can make a living almost equal to that of rural trained teachers – just growing and selling mushrooms.
The Intricacies of Spawning: Mushroom Farming Training Programs
According to an article in the Sustainable Village, she can train people in spawn making, mushroom production, setting up of a spawn laboratory and cooking methods. She shapes her training according to the environment of given communities. She has a procedure for rural people who do not have laboratories and one for those who have laboratories available. Success of mushroom production highly depends on availability of spawn – yet spawn making is so technical that not everybody is suitable to be trained. She prefers separate trainings for potential spawn makers and mushroom producers.
Replicating the Seeds of this Success Globally
Following her success in Zimbabwe, tropical mushroom farming was launched in Choco, Colombia, a coastal state where nearly 99% of the population is of direct African descent. A one-week training programme led to the domestication of Jew’s Ear fungus (auricularia auricula), a nutritional mushroom native to Choco and which grows in abundance. The mushroom substrate is made from wood dust from saw mills, one of the main sources of river pollution in the area.
Margaret Tagwira has helped to successfully cultivate, various species including the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus) in a effort to help fight the weed choking Bangalore lakes. Margaret has also worked in Benin, The Gambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda in similar efforts.
