The vast and fertile soils of the Cagayan Valley Region produce various agricultural products such as rice, corn, coconut, legumes, nuts, and many others. But with the abundance of harvests, there are always parts of the plants that, if not processed, will turn into waste.
One of these is the rice straw, locally known as “dayami”. Farmers often burn these after harvest. But in Sitio Tayak, Siguiran, Abulug, and Cagayan, rice straw is used as a material for mushroom production by the Tayak Agri-Fisheries Producers Association.
Sitio Tayak is home to hundreds of farm laborers. However, farming is a seasonal livelihood to them as they are only needed during land preparation, planting, and harvest season.
In 2019, the local government unit of Abulug and the Department of Labor and Employment organized them to create a livelihood for them to be busy during lean months. DOLE gave them P330,000 in seed capital for them to venture into mushroom production, which eventually became successful.
The group is not only producing fresh cultured oyster mushrooms but they are also producing other by-products including mushroom bagoong, mushroom chips, mushroom pizza, dried mushrooms, mushroom pickles, and others.
