Mushroom cultivation and processing

I am solving the problem of malnutrition among children below five, low immune system among pregnant mother's and elderly, currently in the world research shows diseases like HIV/AIDS ,virus like Coronavirus easily attack people with weak immune system

In my solution I add value to mushroom that is highly considered nutritious world over through making powder out of it, mixing it with nutritious vegetables and pack it into different sizes , secondly process juice out of mushroom consumed to boost the immune system

It will change lives through creating jobs for the youth and women since mushroom processing and cultivation does not require alot of skills to carry out. Strengthen and Improve on the daily diet of people allover the world and hence work as a preventive measure against the non communicable diseases .

Another Dream Innovations work with a group of committed young people that have been cultivating mushroom in Mubuku irrigation scheme since 2017.However because of high inconsistency of profits and wastage farmers face during some seasons  when production is high demand is low. This is why we started adding value while meeting the costumers demand of our nutritious products that boost the immune system.

Over 500 farmers in the scheme and 1000 in Rwenzori region were being affected. According to world Health organisation report 2019, 4 children out of 10 Children in Africa suffer from malnutrition.This is a health threat to the health of the African Continent. Majority of the mushroom farmers are young mother's , women that are sustaining families. The perishablity aspect of mushroom has consistently affected majority of the farmers who can hardly afford the process of value addition, it's from this background that Another Dream Innovations came up with a processing centre to train and help in value addition while increasing profits. 

The products made out of mushroom are both food and medicine to our health, powder and  juice are rich in nutrients.My chain involves training farmers Better methods of mushroom cultivation, processing and packing. These farmers sell to our processing centre for value addition.However some farmers who wish to Learn how to add value to mushroom that is purely natural and organic are given chance to make powder and juice while creating employment for youth and women in Uganda. Mushroom is both medicine and food therefore it's demand and nutritious values help alot of people who venture into it.

I use a machine for grinding, packing and water purification system that is multipurpose, Pasteurizer / 500 ltrs that has an agitator with the technology where fire hits the water and water hits the product. solar dryers that  help to dry the mushroom before turning it into powder which is later fixed with different nutritious powder out of vegetables to make avariety of products.

The solution is targeting children below 5 years, young mother's, pregnant mother's and the eldely whose immune system need to be boosted We intend to reach out to more 1000 children, 500 young mother's ,500 pregnant women, 300 elderly above 70 years. These will be reached through our up country outlets and the sales representative agents .we shall partner with hospitals and health centres to access these beneficiaries and also use  vuluntary village health trainers (VVHT).The beneficiaries will be encouraged to understand the nutritious value of mushroom products to their health through training and Radio talk shows. This will make them strong and diseases prevention is better than cure the customers have been made to understand first the important value with mushroom boosting the body immune system so that they are able to buy more and more, For one to have a smile on every meal one must have a mushroom product.

They are related in away that mushroom cultivation and processing does not require alot of skills and energy to carry out, pregnant mother's, young mother's and elderly too can do the watering of the mushroom. It takes three weeks for one to start harvesting up to 3 months before replacing the gardens. This can be done by any one if well trained. Our body require health food to help us resist diseases like ebola,HIV/AIDS, Coronavirus through boosting the immune system. These selected categories of people are always victims of low immune System.

This Innovation is unique , previously majority of the farmers have been depending on fresh mushroom yet it's perishable . Processing mushroom gives it more value and life span. A bigger number of customers who would not have accessed the products because of perishablity are able to  get it. Mushroom takes 2 to 3 days if not processed or put in a solar dryer to get spoiled. Therefore  through processing we are able to cover a wider market and hence high profits for the company. Unlike other people or producers of juice, mushroom juice is purely organic and natural with out food colors that are artificial. This business Innovation is fully committed with the environment with the production of sustainable raw material we got to do more with less water consumption,lower power consumption.lower consumption of plant ,less co2 emissions.The women vendors who sell mushroom on the streets do not meet the health hygiene standards and therefore people prefer our well packed and processed products that are found in supermarkets, shops, hotels , restaurants and school canteens.

Mushroom processing and cultivation involve the use of locally made materials called substrates, These are maize brand, lime ,granded maize cobs.

First step the maize cob that is crushed into powder form is soaked.

Second stage is unsoaked and  put on the drainage system.

Third stage lime and maize brand is mixed.

Fourth stage it is put in drums or sauspans for boiling or sterlization 

Lastly it's left to cool after 4 hours of boiling and it's packed with spawn in what we call gardens, which are small simple polythene paper.

This process take 7 days and the the tightly packed bags are put in a dark room for 2_3 weeks to complete the process.

Once the gardens are formed they are hanged and you start doing the watering as you harvest once or twice a week.This will take you between three to four months with an average harvest of 7 to 10 kilograms each garden for one cycle. After three months a garden that cost around 2 Us dollars will be able to give profit of 6 Dollars.This is a very profitable venture yet contributing to our health well being of our lives through boosting immune system.

The above is some of the fresh products that we have which we turn into powder after drying them and process different products from powder. In Kenya mushroom has been processed though on a small scale however if funded this can turn out to be the world's best favorable food that is both food and medicine because of it's nutritious role to our health.In Zambia farmers are carring out mushroom cultivation and processing with some doing export. Our wide research on the over 500 variety types of mushroom, position us as one of the leading cultivators of oyster mushroom in the great lakes region.

In the reasech carrid out in 2013 by Bwambale Abraham a public health student of Uganda Christian University about malnutrition and retardation among children below 5 years it was found out that most children below 5 years had health complications related to poor feeding and lack purely organic food. Through the findings mushroom was identified as one of the food types that is easy to cultivate, process and market since it is food and medicine with over 50 uses to our body.

Our theory of change will effectively reach out to a bigger number of people. Mushroom cultivation is easy to learn and train.The process takes 2-3 weeks one to start harvesting. Processing involves drying, grading to form powder and mixing with delious vegetables to come up with different products. The juice too involves extraction of liquid from fresh mushroom with simple technology. These can therefore be packed in different sizes to reach out our target groups regardless of living standards .The products are affordable highly demanded, naturally organic and easy to boost the immune system

Its currently serving 1500 people in and around Mubuku irrigation scheme, Out of these 500 are around Mubuku ,1000 in Rwenzori region we now target 1000 children below 5 years ,500 young mother's ,500 pregnant mother's and 300 elderly total of 2300 in 1 year and lastly 20,000 people in five years. We shall reach out to these target groups through using our sales agents in the country, opening more outlets for display, parternering with NGOs, Radio stations for advertising and training

To train more farmers for constant supply of mushroom to our processing centre.

Be able to export to the neighboring countries and increase the production capacity.

Increase the machinery capacity that will help in processing, packing and branding to meet the national and international standards.

These will be achieved through advertising, carring out talk shows on both radio stations and social media

Parternering with other local organisations dealing  in health  food processing  seeking for funding from the ministry of health and world health organisation to boost the need for every one's well being as stipulated in the millennium development goals.

The limitations are acquisition of machines that are able to process, pack and brand our products to be able to meet international standards, enough operational capital to help in training more out growers marketing and advertising on both local and national radio stations

Lastly the networking with other innovators dealing with health and food Processing all over the world

Networking with other innovators in the Same are I'm currently using every opportunity to reach out to potentially well established people, working on establishing a website where our work and partners can easily access us and lastly using the farmers or out growers we have already trained I started up a savings and credit scheme where these out growers contribute a certain percentage every harvest to Carter for services provided while being trained. This has helpt to raise operational capital and we hope the more the out growers the more the funds collected.

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10 people, 5 full time 5 part time, 

We also work with 1500 out growers who provide us with mushroom. 

The full time staff are all well experienced in different areas

Kisembo Joram is the Chief Executive Officer graduate from Uganda Christian University with a bachelor's degree in Education and short courses in Agriculture value addition specifically mushroom cultivation and processing, experience in health having worked as a health educator for 5 years.

Dr Singoma Robert in charge of health related areas and quality assurance with a degree from Mbarara University of science and technology.

Bwambale Kamili a graduate and a consultant in Accounting and finance from Makerere Business school who is in charge of handling finance and administration

Masika Jones a trained clinic officer specialist in midwifery and handling children below 5 years.

Muhindo Harriet a graduate from Makerere University in charge of marketing , sales operation officer who had previously been working with Coca-Cola bottling company LTD with experience in branding, packing and marketing skills.

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Another Dream Innovations provide 4 major products to customers, fresh,dry, juice and powder mushroom to customers.These products are packed in different sizes to meet the clients prefence.They are small, medium and  large. These are at different prices that are favorable for different customers. Our current customers are supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, women vendors,markets ,outlet shops final consumers or beneficiaries are pregnant mother's , young mother's, children below 5 years, HIV/ AIDS victims and elderly. Services include training of out growers for constant supply. People like our products because they are nutritious, work as food and mushroom at the same time. Mushroom products boost the immune system that help the body to resist diseases. They are packed to cater for low and high income earners in different sizes and are in most shops around Uganda.

Im applying to solve in order to be able to achieve my goals, vision and mission. This will be through networking with other teams that have similar ideas, improve on the processing knowledge that can meet the international market.

Solve will help in reaching out to more out growers in Rwenzori region and Uganda at Large.

The machinery acquired will enable Another Dream Innovations to process, brand and pack the final products.

Marketing and advertising skills will be widened through this program if selected.

This program will help me scale my Innovation to other neighboring African countries and the world at large

Improve the value addition approach in Rwenzori region.

Lastly be able to get the funds that will enable Another Dream Innovations achieve great heights.

We already have products on the market like fresh,dry ,powder, juice made out of mushroom, However these products need to be exported to other countries where production is low. To achieve this we need more media , marketing exposure. Solve is one of those platforms that can enable us realised this.

In our goals we intend to process more products out of Mushroom like wine.Therefore solve will help us train more of of our outgrowers to be able to meet the high demand for our nutritious products.

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Rwenzori region is one of the areas that have been affected with unending war and violence. This has lead to people live in displaced camps and on small pieces of land. Mushroom cultivation and processing there has become one of the best Agricultural products since they require small pieces of land with simple technology and take a short period of time to grow.

If funded Another Dream

Another Dream Innovations employment structure allows 80% women and 20% men. This makes us able to quality for Innovation for women prize.Majority of mushroom farmers are young mother's, pregnant women and girls who drop out of school. We provide them skills that help to sustain their families.Hands on skills, advanced mushroom technological methods of cultivation and processing.

Another Dream Innovations caters for all categories of people, the poor, rich and disabled. Mushroom cultivation has no attachment of Cultural beliefs. Either through cultivation, processing or consumption.