New Technology to Level Up Mushroom Farming in Pasig City
The Samahang Pantawid Pamilya Mushroom ng Maybunga (SPPMM) and Maybunga Rainforest Park now transitions to smarter farming methods with the local government taking over management of the Solar Powered Automated Modular Mushroom Growing House, the result of a research and development project between the Department of Science and Technology-NCR (DOST-NCR) and the Rizal Technological University (RTU).
The Solar Powered Automated Modular Mushroom Growing House technology, housed at the Maybunga Rainforest Park, was turned over and formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) last January 12, 2024 with the City Government of Pasig, DOST-NCR, and RTU. Present during the ceremony were Pasig City Mayor Victor Ma. Regis “Vico” N. Sotto, Vice Mayor Robert “Dodot” B. Jaworski Jr., Pasig City Representative Roman T. Romulo, RTU President Dr. Ma. Eugenia M. Yangco, DOST-NCR Regional Director Engr. Romelen T. Tresvalles, and other Pasig City officials and stakeholders. The signing ceremony was doubly momentous as it coincided with the First Year Anniversary of the declaration of the Maybunga Rainforest Park as a “Permanent Forest Park and Protected Conservation Area.”
The technology seeks to provide communities with a ready to assemble, inexpensive, less maintenance, green, and automated growing house for mushroom cultivation. Aside from using solar power, the interior of the mushroom house contains sensors that maintain parameters like humidity, light, temperature, ventilation, air pressure, pH, and nutrients.
The Samahang Pantawid Pamilya Mushroom ng Maybunga (SPPMM) in Maybunga and Maybunga Rainforest Park in Pasig City add to Paradise Garden in Sucat, Muntinlupa and Ugong, Valenzuela that are the existing communities provided with mushroom houses under the DOST-NCR’s Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) Program.
The RTU-developed technology and its deployment to LGUs is expected to advance mushroom farming in Metro Manila, putting mushroom farmers in a better position to compete in the mushroom industry in the Philippines that has seen significant growth since 1995.
By: Noel G. Calcetas, SCCU
