Women grow mushrooms in unused high school

AFYONKARAHİSAR

Local women in western Turkey are growing mushrooms on the grounds of an unused high school.

A culture house in the Bayat district of Afyonkarahisar first provided training to 22 women on fungi culture, and then a women’s cooperative was established to help them grow mushrooms.

Classrooms of the school were turned into mushroom growing spaces, packaging units and cold storage by eight members of the cooperative. The production of organic oyster mushrooms began a month ago. “We did not use any chemicals in our products,” said Dilek Ede, the head of the cooperative.

District Governor Ömer Tekeş said there is a high demand for organic mushrooms. “Orders are also coming from the U.K., but they want an analysis on the safety of the products first. We are preparing the required reports,” he noted.

Companies show more interest when they find out women are involved, Tekeş added.

He said they expect 2-3 tons of production by the end of the harvesting season, which may not be enough to meet the high demand.