Extending life cycle of rice straw

Rice straw finds new value

Using post-harvest rice straw, farmers in Vi Thanh 1 Commune, Can Tho City, are growing straw mushrooms in enclosed facilities, creating additional income while helping reduce the practice of burning rice straw in the fields.

Nguyen Thi Tuoi, a resident of Hamlet 1, Vi Thanh 1 Commune, has been involved in this model since 2019. Previously, her family mainly grew vegetables. After receiving technical training through the VnSAT Project in coordination with the local agriculture sector, she enrolled in the training and began growing clean straw mushrooms indoors.

Nguyen Thi Tuoi currently operates two mushroom houses with a combined area of about 200 square meters. Each house is loaded with approximately 120 bundles of straw per production cycle. Depending on conditions, she produces around five to six crops a year.

According to Tuoi, each mushroom crop can be harvested over a period of approximately 15 to 25 days. In the most recent crop, the harvested mushrooms generated revenue of about VND 20 million. At times, mushroom prices have reached around VND 80,000 per kilogram.

The market for the mushrooms is relatively stable, as the family has established regular buyers. Customers come directly to the farm to purchase the mushrooms after harvest, and current supply still does not meet demand. “We can just leave them at the front of the house, and people will come to buy them. We don't have enough to sell, so we don't have to go out and find buyers,” Tuoi said.

The model not only generates income from mushrooms but also helps the Tuoi family make efficient use of their production space. The mushrooms are grown on racks inside the enclosed facility, allowing the available space to be used more efficiently than growing them directly on the ground. Rack-grown mushrooms are also of better quality, cleaner, and less likely to absorb the smell of straw, making them easier to care for and harvest.

However, securing investment capital remains one of the major challenges in developing the model. According to Tuoi, a mushroom house covering about 100 square meters requires an initial investment of approximately VND 200 million.

Le Viet Hao, Tuoi's husband, said that after each mushroom crop, the spent straw is collected and sold to traders as raw material for producing organic and microbial fertilizers used for growing apricot trees and flowers. According to Hao, each mushroom house can yield around 200 bags of spent straw after one crop, which can be sold for approximately VND 15,000 per bag. This allows the straw used for mushroom production to continue generating value instead of becoming waste.

One of the key advantages of growing straw mushrooms in enclosed facilities is the ability to make use of the straw after mushroom cultivation, creating additional value instead of discarding it. Spent straw can continue to be used as raw material for producing organic fertilizer, microbial organic fertilizer, or as an input for crop production.

For Tuoi’s family, if the spent straw is not sold to traders, it can be left to decompose, then dried and used as fertilizer for vegetables. This helps the family reduce the cost of purchasing chemical fertilizers. “Straw left outdoors for a long time will decompose. We then dry it and use it to fertilize the vegetables. That way, we don't have to spend money on chemical fertilizers, and we also have clean vegetables to eat,” Tuoi said.

From the production experience, Truong Ngoc Minh, Chairwoman of the Vi Thanh 1 Commune Women's Union, said the model delivers strong economic benefits, creates jobs, increases incomes, and helps stabilize local livelihoods. A major advantage of the model is that it generates economic value while also contributing to environmental protection.

If expanded, the model could help reduce the practice of burning rice straw in fields after harvest, cut smoke and dust, and make better use of by-products from rice production. “Eliminating field burning will help protect the environment and is in line with the city's current policies,” Minh emphasized.

Capital support, toward developing an OCOP Product

Building on the model's proven effectiveness, the Vi Thanh 1 Commune Women's Union is working with the commune's Economic Division to support Tuoi's family in developing an OCOP product to improve product quality and value while building a brand for the mushrooms.

In the coming period, the Women's Union will continue working with the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to provide access to capital for members seeking to invest in or expand their operations, while also encouraging households to learn from the model and adopt it at an appropriate scale.

According to Minh, expanding the model is aimed not only at increasing incomes but also at creating stable employment opportunities for women locally, reducing the need to leave home for work elsewhere. “We encourage women to leave farming, but not their hometowns, so they can find work at home and build stable lives,” Minh said.

Using post-harvest rice straw, indoor straw mushroom cultivation is opening up a new production opportunity for farmers in Vi Thanh 1 Commune. By turning agricultural by-products into additional value, farmers can increase their incomes while helping reduce field burning and promoting circular agriculture and environmental protection.

*$1 = VND 26,260 (Source: Vietcombank).