Assessment of Mushroom Production Technologies in Camarines Sur, Philippines

Abstract

The case study assessed the mushroom production technologies used by oyster mushroom growers in selected municipalities of Camarines Sur (Districts 3, 4, and 5), and analyzed how technology use aligned with enterprise viability and continuing production constraints. A descriptive explanatory case study approach was applied, where farm visits, interviews, and a structured survey questionnaire were combined to quantify technology adoption, perceived economic viability, and the intensity of production and marketing challenges. Purposive sampling focused on active growers with experience in mushroom production to allow district-level comparisons and to capture practices common under real farm conditions. Growers were generally middle-aged and economically active, operating small production spaces (about 72–74 m² on average). Across districts, overall adoption levels were closely comparable (mean ≈ 1.76–1.77), indicates that technology uptake was steady but not intensive. Adoption was also selective roughly 62.5% of assessed items consistently fell under low adoption, indicates that practices requiring specialized equipment, higher capital outlay, or advanced process control were less likely to be implemented. The most widely used practices were those that were practical and low-cost, including hot water treatment, manual bagging, simple nipa/bamboo fruiting houses, rice straw-based substrates, and immediate selling of fresh mushrooms. Even though the level of technology intensity was relatively low, the economic viability results were consistently strong and centered around the high rating band, while overall means ranged approximately between 3.12 and 3.18. However, constraints were high overall, with means ranging from 2.95 to approximately 3.13, and the key constraints were based on the lack of infrastructure, equipment, high input costs, and the lack of access to capital and credit. The outcomes indicates that growers are able to maintain economic viability through accessible and low-input technologies, but with regard to the potential to lift quality stability and scale up production, the focus needs to be placed on providing targeted support in terms of infrastructure, access to finance, and extension approaches emphasizing the importance of controlling contamination, substrate use, and even environmental control in general terms.