Yangon, Myanmar – Ko Phyo lives in Bagan Taung village, Thanlyin, Yangon Region, Myanmar. In 2015, he attended a two-week farmer empowerment training conducted by the AFFM (Agriculture and Farmer Federation of Myanmar), the national implementing agency of AFOSP-MTCP2 in Myanmar. From the training, he learned about natural resources management, organic agriculture, compost-making, and mushroom-growing.
“I don’t have any training or resources that I can use in developing my farm so I can get more income from it,” Ko Phyo shares. “From the training, I learned a lot of techniques on farming, mushroom-growing, compost-making, and soil maintenance. The training also gave me the idea on how we can manage the natural resources around us.”
Ko Phyo started growing straw mushrooms. This type of mushroom has a good market in the country. Currently, one kilogram of straw mushrooms sells for 3,000 Myanmar kyats (USD 2). He makes MMK 160,000 (USD 110) from each of the six mushroom beds he made.
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Ko Phyo shared that from his mushroom business, he earns enough money for his family’s daily expenses. “I can make enough income from mushroom growing more than the amount I will get if I work at a factory. I also have more time to do other work. I don’t need to spend all of my time on mushroom-growing alone,” he says.
He plans to expand his mushroom farm and grow two different types of mushrooms. He already started acting on it by collecting materials for the additional mushroom houses. Moreover, Ko Phyo also started a family garden in his small compound where he will grow different kinds of organic vegetables. Ko Phyo used to consider local resources in his compound such as straw, water hyacinth, dried leaves, grass, and farm residues as wastes and he used to just burn these. After the training, he obtained ideas on how to manage local resources to achieve zero waste farming. He realized that the local materials available around his house and the residues from mushroom-growing can be utilized as fertilizer for his vegetable garden.
“Growing our own food makes my family and the environment healthy. I will save money because I will no longer buy vegetables from the market. I can even sell vegetables to the local people at affordable prices,” he says.
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