White. Red. Brown. Black. These are the colors of the mushrooms produced by the Balikatan Farmers Multi Purpose Cooperative (BFMPC) based in San Angel village in Rosales, an eastern Pangasinan town.

The members used to produce only the kabuting saging (native variety) and the oyster mushroom.

But Coop manager Venacio Abalos said that lack of dried banana leaves to grow kabuting saging ("the easiest variety to grow as it takes only 10-12 days for spawn to germinate") forced the members to shift to oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and venture into bagging technology – making fruiting bags where oyster mushrooms grow.

The project was a successful one that the coop could hardly cope with the demand for the fruiting bags. "We produce an average of 4,000 fruiting bags and 3,000 bottles of spawn each month which we deliver to different towns of Pangasinan and other provinces," Abalos said.

Three fruiting bags (P20 each) can produce an average of one kilo every month and the bags can last for two months. A kilo of mushrooms sell for at least P150.

"All you need is a shed to put the bags which are ready to fruit. The bags should be watered every afternoon," Abalos explained.

Sometime in late 2003, the coop started to produce tengang daga (black mushroom or wood ear), also in bags. The wood ear, so-called because they are ear-shaped, usually grow on fallen tree trunks. They are usually used in Chinese dishes.

Both oyster and wood ear in fruiting bags grow after 45 days after inoculation but the bags sold by the coop are already ready to fruit to ensure productivity, Abalos said.

In September 2004, the cooperative (150 members) added other "colors" to its mushroom production. It is trying to produce ganoderma (Ganoderma lucidum) or red mushroom which a Malaysian-based company markets as a health food supplement.

"It’s not true that ganoderma grows only in Malaysia. We can grow it here," Abalos said.

The other species being produced by the farmers here is the shitake, a yellow to light brown fragrant mushroom variety which is traditionally cultured in Japan. According to a website, shitake stimulates immune system and has powerful antioxidants.

But Abalos said while the coop grows oyster and wood ear mushrooms commercially, it has only started producing ganoderma and shitake which take at least a year to grow.

But waiting for ganoderma and shitake to grow is worth it as they are much more expensive than oyster (fresh is sold at least P150 a kilo) and wood ear (P200 a kilo if fresh and P450 if dried).

A shitake fruiting bag can yield only 350 grams but a kilo of dried shitake costs a minimum of P600. Ganoderma on the other hand, costs P2,000 a kilo.

Abalos said he procured the pure culture of ganoderma and shitake from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños but he is now producing spawn of the mushroom varieties.

Sometime back, Abalos was also "gifted" by a farmer with another native mushroom called "kalaw." He has reproduced the spawn of the variety but he doubted if it can be commercialized. "It takes 18 months before it can grow."

"But each bag can produce a kilo of kalaw mushroom," he noted. He has 500 bags of such and is waiting for them to grow.

Abalos said he hoped more Filipinos would venture into mushroom production and the demand is much more than the production in the country. He showed a copy of statistics from the National Statistics Office proving that the Philippines imported 448,370 kilos of mushroom (canned and dried) in 2003.

"There is a big demand and the country has the capability and human resources to go into mushroom production For instance, most rice farmers are idle in between planting and harvest seasons. They can also use rice hay, which is usually burned, as growing materials for mushroom," he said.

Aside from selling spawn (P10 a bottle of oyster mushroom) and fruiting bags, the coop also entertains requests for trainings on mushroom growing technology – from producing spawn to making fruiting bags to growing them.