Colombia

Ashongos, Colombian Mushroom producers.

Ashongos is an association of cultivators of fresh and dried oyster and shiitake mushrooms. Ashongos provide training, marketing and business management to the cultivators, as well as seeded substrate on which to grow the mushrooms.

The majority of the cultivators are coffee growers although some are city dwellers in Manizales. Most are women heads of their households. Most growing sheds are situated near to homes so mushroom cultivating combines well with household duties. The income from mushroom cultivation supplements their other income.

In conventional coffee production, 99% of the biomass generated by coffee plants is discarded - and often without care for the environment. The use of the biomass as a substrate for mushroom production is therefore very positive. The research on this has been sponsored by Cenicafe, the National Centre for Coffee Research.

Tropical Wholefoods have been purchasing dried oyster and shiitake mushrooms from Ashongos since 2005.

Cooperativa Territorio Verde de Paz belong to Ashongos. One of the members, Maria Doris Marin (pictured above right): "I started oyster mushroom cultivation in 1999. During a harsh winter, our growing sheds were destroyed but with help from the Agropolis project, we got started again. We are all women heads of our households. With mushroom growing, we earn an extra income near our houses and can at the same time,
watch out for our children."

Gladis Zuluaga- "I have worked for 5 years with oyster mushrooms and am a member of Organicultivos y Setas, which is part of Ashongos. It is a very good way to have a good income with very nice products."