Tet (Vietnamese New Year) for mushroom growers in Yen Thanh

(Baonghean.vn)On the morning of the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, I called Mr. Tran Quang Niem, the owner of a mushroom farm in Phan Dang Luu hamlet, Nam Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, to order 3 kg of straw mushrooms. However, unlike previous times, Mr. Niem replied that he couldn't get any. He said that all the mushrooms had been ordered by customers since yesterday afternoon. During the Tet holiday, all the oyster mushrooms and straw mushrooms are sold out. Most of the customers are from the same village and commune.

After hearing about it, I still went to Mr. Niem's ​​mushroom farm. Around his family's house, mushroom production technology was everywhere. Rows of straw mushroom and wood ear mushroom bags hung from the roof, while rows of oyster mushrooms sprouted, their white blossoms visible under the tightly sealed tarpaulin. Mr. Niem excitedly said: "Utilizing all the available garden space, my family currently has nearly 2,000 mushroom bags and about 100 square meters for growing oyster mushrooms. Although we prepared 50% of the mushroom bags for production before Tet, we still couldn't meet the demand. On some days, customers needed them so much that we had to harvest the newly sprouted mushrooms. In total, during this Tet season, my mushroom farm sold 17 million dong worth of wood ear mushrooms and about 200 kg of straw and oyster mushrooms. Despite the high demand, the prices remained unchanged: 60,000 dong per kg of oyster mushrooms, 30,000 dong per kg of straw mushrooms, and 40,000 dong per kg of wood ear mushrooms."



Black fungus sells very well during the Lunar New Year.

Contacting several mushroom farms in Yen Thanh district, they also reported the encouraging news that during Tet (Lunar New Year), mushroom supply couldn't meet demand, with customers calling to place orders every afternoon. The reason is that during Tet, many people working far from home return for the holidays, leading to high demand for vegetables. Furthermore, there are many weddings before and after Tet, and people order mushrooms as a substitute for vegetables in their dishes. The mushrooms are produced using proper techniques and without any chemicals, making them considered a clean, safe, and easy-to-prepare vegetable, which is why consumers prefer them.

Many people from other districts who came to Yen Thanh to celebrate Tet, or children from the district who worked far away and returned home, were surprised by the delicious flavor of the mushrooms in the hot pot dish. Mr. Trung, from Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau district, after eating the mushroom hot pot, immediately asked for the address of the mushroom farm so he could visit in person and intended to learn how to grow mushrooms.

It's not yet known how much mushroom Yen Thanh consumed during this Tet holiday, but it's certainly a considerable amount. Therefore, even during the festive days of Tet, mushroom growers still have to take care of their mushrooms to serve customers.

Xuan Hoang