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Business and<br />
entrepreneurial skills<br />
Entrepreneurial skills are required<br />
if growers intend their cultivation<br />
activities to go beyond subsistence<br />
and local trade, and wish to develop<br />
a small business. These may include<br />
basic bookkeeping skills, planning<br />
and administration, management<br />
supplies of materials (sterilization<br />
equipment, and appropriate and<br />
timely quantities of substrate<br />
and spores), management and<br />
coordination of packaging and<br />
transport, and negotiation skills and<br />
marketing.<br />
Market information<br />
External assistance can help establish<br />
links and contacts for information on<br />
trends in product price, quantity and<br />
quality, understanding how market<br />
chains are structured and function,<br />
why similar <strong>mushroom</strong> cultivation<br />
initiatives may have failed or been<br />
successful. Additional training and<br />
support can then enable cultivators<br />
to use this information to their<br />
advantage.<br />
Financial services<br />
Fortunately small-scale <strong>mushroom</strong><br />
cultivation does not require<br />
significant financial assets to<br />
establish an enterprise. Cash, savings<br />
and access to credit or grants are<br />
seldom essential to initiate small-<br />
scale cultivation systems, sufficient<br />
to provide a nutritious source of<br />
food and reliable source of instant<br />
cash. Financial resources will<br />
however become more important<br />
as the size of an enterprise scalesup,<br />
or if cultivators want to explore<br />
adding value through processing<br />
and consider investment in drying<br />
equipment, or secure specialist<br />
containers to package and transport<br />
products further to more distant<br />
markets.<br />
The types of credit available<br />
vary between countries. Central<br />
and local governments and private<br />
organizations are normally good<br />
sources of credit for establishing<br />
<strong>farming</strong> business. Farmers will raise<br />
cash from farm gate sales or from<br />
agents or cooperatives marketing<br />
their produce. Cooperatives are often<br />
in a better position to offer credit<br />
to rural farmers than individuals or<br />
financial institutions.<br />
External funding can be used<br />
to provide more efficient or high<br />
technological processing equipment,<br />
facilitate information and exchange<br />
visits, and provide training to expand<br />
cultivation skills.<br />
Organizational options<br />
Organization between cultivators<br />
to facilitate knowledge exchange,<br />
reduce vulnerability to shocks, and<br />
increase capacity to cultivate through<br />
Make money by growing <strong>mushroom</strong>s<br />
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