Mushroom farming technique a winner

In rice producing countries, it is unavoidable to generate rice straw waste. Viet Nam, for example, produces 40 million tonnes or rice annually and about 20 million tonnes of rice straw waste. As a practice, Vietnamese farmers burn the waste, contributing to greenhouse gases, which according to a social enterprise called Fargreen, causes air pollution that is comparable to China’s.

To prevent the need to burn rice straw, Fargreen introduced a technology to convert the waste into a product applicable in farming mushrooms.  It would significantly reduce greenhouse gases and create an opportunity for farmers to diversify their crop yields and gain additional income by growing and selling mushrooms.

Fargreen co-founders Trang Tran and Tanmay Milind Telang, both MBA students at Colorado State University, presented their business model for the new technology at the University of Washington's Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition, in Seattle on February, where they won the top prize of $12,500, sponsored by Microsoft and the Seattle International Foundation.

According to James Rooney, senior manager at Microsoft's Technology for Good programme, the presentation combines “a great idea with a solid business plan.”

Ms Tang said, “We plan to use the prize money to build our first mushroom facilities for ten farmers who already signed up to be in our network. The construction and production will happen this summer."