Chinese Government provides RMB 8.2 million grant for Phase 1 of Juncao Mushroom Technical Cooperation Project (Linked to Record ID#65032)

In 2014, the Chinese Government provided an RMB 8.2 million (FJD 14 million) grant to the Government of Fiji for Phase 1 of the Juncao Mushroom Technological Cooperation Project. The purpose of this project is to train Fijian farmers in the Juncao technique for cultivating mushrooms.

Chinese Professor Lin Zhanxi perfected the Juncao technique for growing mushrooms from grass in the 1980s and has shared his technology with developing countries with the help of the Chinese Government.

The Fijian Ministry of Agriculture, working with the Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University (FAFU), and the China National Engineering Research Center of JUNCAO Technology collaborated through this project to increase the supply and domestic sale of mushrooms in Fiji. Phase 1 commenced in September 2014.

It involved the construction of a 3,100 square meter demonstration farm (by Hebei Construction Group) — at the Legalega Research Station on the outskirts of the city of Nadi — with processing workshops, laboratories, training classrooms, trainee dormitories, and a 20,000 square meter nursery garden.

The purpose of the demonstration farm (known as the Juncao Technology Demonstration Center) was to grow mushrooms and teach farmers how to cultivate them successfully so they could start their own small businesses.

Phase 1 also involved involved testing the viability of the Juncao Technology (using dried and chopped grasses to grow mushrooms), and educating officials from the Ministry of Agriculture as well as local farmers about this technology.

Because Juncao is a simple technology (requiring no soil and only a small area of space) and the mushrooms grow relatively quickly, demand for training was high.

At least 7 trainings were held, and the project successfully commercialized Juncao mushrooms on Fiji’s domestic market.

To help local farmers start mushroom businesses, the Chinese Government donated implements, machines, and other planting materials to the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture in late September 2016 (marking the end of Phase 1). The first harvest in late 2014 yielded approximately 200 kilograms. A hectare produces around 500 tonnes of fresh grass, which can produce 150 tonnes of fresh mushroom.

Fiji is now expected to produce 30,000 kilograms of mushrooms annually, which will help diversify its exports and alleviate rural poverty.

As of late January 2015, the project has helped Fiji with producing about 1 million bags of edible and medicinal mushrooms, and technical personnel training of more than 100 people.