When Tanzanian student Mohamed Jumanne Manjale graduated with a Diploma in general agriculture from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Tanzania, in 2012, he knew the milestone was just one of several he had to overcome before achieving his dream of attaining a university degree.
So, after further studies at the same college, he graduated in 2015 with a diploma in the same field.This paved the way for him to set his sights on the ultimate goal of earning a degree in agriculture, a quest he was not ready to let go of. However, he faced a major obstacle.
He did not qualify for a government student loan, as only those joining universities directly from high school are eligible and he was what is referred to as a ‘continuing learner’. As Manjale did odd jobs to survive, wondering how to raise money for his coveted degree, he met a friend who had won a scholarship for amasters degree in China, and who encouraged him to begin looking for similar opportunities.
“I applied for several bursaries until I succeeded in 2017 and won a fouryear Mastercard – RUFORUM [Regional Universities Forum for
Capacity Building in Agriculture] scholarship to study towards a general agriculture degree at Egerton University in Kenya,” This was, however, only one more of the many challenges he had to overcome as part of his journey towards a degree.
Having overcome the critical language impediment to effective learning, he was looking forward to completing his fouryear degree programme on time in 2021. COVID19 disruption.
However, as fate would have it, the COVID19 pandemic struck, disrupting learning at the university and practically every other aspectof life.
Stranded, with little to do at the college and with academic knowledge gathered over the years, Manjale decided to utilise space and resources available for agriculture student practicals to grow mushrooms, a crop that largely grows in the wild. “In the second year of this programme, we engage in field attachment where we gain a lot of experience in different crops, field practice, and in pests and disease management. Due to this, I was already confident I could grow different crops and apply requisite agricultural science in general,” Manjale says.
He began by gathering organic waste around the institution which included wheat and barley remnants available from the surrounding community. He invested part of his bursary money in buying the required material and constructed mudwalled, grassthatched structures, as the crop requires a moist environment in which to grow. Mushrooms mature fast and, after five weeks, he was able to harvest the first crop, this time having been joined by four other students. They called themselves the Millennium Mushrooms Production Project.
Expanding the mushroom project
The Millennium Mushrooms Production Project group have been selling their mushrooms to staff and visitors to the institution as well
as to the surrounding community. They sell at US$6 a kilo, making a profit of about US$150 a month. Manjale explains: “So far, this is a smallscale project. After deducting all costs, we remain with US$150 profit per month, but with the external funding that we are looking for, we envisage making more sales and higher profits.” The group has already drafted a proposal for funding through MastercardRUFORUM’s Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s Growth and Development (TAGDev) project which they hope to win, and through which they will be able to expand the project by buying modernequipment and scaling up production.
Already, the group has engaged neighbouring farmers in mushroom production with the aim of getting them to embrace the trade and grow together with them in the business. We are teaching them how to produce mushrooms from waste as well
as value addition, after which we will find the market for it in local outlets,” adds the father of a fiveyearold son.
“The farmers have agreed to partner with us. They will contribute land and other resources since, up to now, we do not have funders, so we have to share capital with the local community,” he explains. Many communities in Africa traditionally collected mushrooms from forests, he notes, adding that the communities are not aware that the produce can also be grown at home.
Food security
The crop can increase food sustainability and income for marginalised households and increase income for small farmers across Africa if
adequate awareness is created. Manjale says he has subsequently been able to accomplish several goals that he has dreamed about for a “long time”. “I h ve bought a small plot of land in Dar es Salaam and bought construction materials, and now I have started to build my own house.
I have the ability to support my mother for her basic needs,” adds the last born in a family of seven.Through savings, he is also paying school fees for his brother’s children who, he says, were “staying out of school due to lack of fees”. “I have interacted with many people from different parts of Kenya and many countries of Africa through meetings and events hosted by RUFORUM.
I have gained knowledge on how to relate with people and also on how to engage in positive discussions that help me grow.” Although Manjale is sad that he will not be able to graduate until around December 2021 due to the COVID19 disruption, he thinks he has found a career in farming and the food trade.
Among other options, he observes that, since Kenya’s currency is stronger than Tanzania’s, he may participate in the crossborder food
trade and invest the money back home.
He does not plan to abandon mushroom production. There is a market. All he needs to do is to expand the project in the future when he hopes to produce mushrooms on an industrial scale by growing different types such as oyster, buttons and medicinal mushrooms to
sell across East Africa and beyond.
