Pengetahuan agropreneur terhadap potensi sisa substrat cendawan dan kaedah pengurusan lepas tuai tanaman cendawan

Abstract

The concept of sustainable agriculture development gives priority to environmental considerations, economic development and social needs in the process of crop production. This process involves crop management up until the post-harvest, which needs to be managed in an environmentally friendly way. In regards to mushroom cultivation, it is an environmentally friendly crop as its growth substrate comprises other agricultural wastes, while the post-harvest waste, which is the spent mushroom substrate (SMS) can be reused for the development of upstream and downstream activities. Environmentally unfriendly crop management has a negative impact on agricultural environment such as air and odour pollution. Therefore, a study has been conducted to assess the level of knowledge of agripreneurs on the potential of reusing SMS and the post-harvest management methods practiced by agripreneur. A combination of the quantitative (survey) and qualitative methods (interviews) was carried out on agripreneur who were working on mushroom cultivation commercially in Kedah (36 agripreneurs) and Johor (42 agripreneurs). Results showed that the majority of the agriprenuers knew that SMS could be reused as compost, plant seed substrate and vermicompost. However, the post-harvest management methods practiced by the agripreneur were environmentally unfriendly, which was done by piling up SMS and mushroom waste bags in an open and unorganized dumping area or burning it openly. This resulted in pollution of the agricultural environment. Therefore, exposure to the concept of waste-to-wealth and green agribusiness should be instilled upon agripreneur through the development of downstream activities. This activity is capable of raising the income of agripreneur by reducing the purchasing cost of inputs, generating side income and preserving the agricultural environment through environmentally friendly mushroom cultivation management.

Waste Management Practices for Mushroom Cultivation in Malaysia

“…The timeframe of the survey is between May to July 2022. The survey was adapted from Mohd Zainol et al (2019). This study expands the previous study's sample size, including all growers in Peninsular Malaysia.…”

“…The mushroom cultivation process can apply this close-loop concept as it used waste for the cultivation process, while the post-harvest waste can be used for other purposes. For the cultivation process, the growing media of mushrooms is taken from other different agricultural wastes, including cotton waste, rice straw, sawdust, oil palm empty fruit bunches, etc (Hanafi et al, 2018;Mohd Zainol, Mah Hussin, & Ghazali, 2019;Umor et al, 2021). Whereas the post-harvest waste, such as SMS can be used for other agricultural purposes such as fertilizer and soil remediation on mushroom farms (Umor et al, 2021).…”

“…Thus, this study proposes to examine the current waste management practices in mushroom agriculture among Malaysian growers. Although a study conducted a similar survey (Mohd Zainol et al, 2019), the sample used was limited to certain states in Malaysia. This study will be using a representative sample of Malaysian mushroom growers.…”

“…The cultivation of mushrooms is an excellent illustration of the potential circular economy symbioses (Dorr et al, 2021). This is because the media used for mushroom cultivation is obtained from other agricultural wastes such as cotton waste, rice straw, sawdust, and oil palm empty fruit bunches, etc (EFB) (Hanafi et al, 2018;Mohd Zainol, Mah Hussin, & Ghazali, 2019;Umor et al, 2021). Whereas post-harvest waste, the spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is high in nutrition and can be used for other purposes.…”