E. Java to farm edible fungus

SURABAYA: East Java in cooperation with Taiwanese businessmen will cultivate edible fungus because the commodity is in great demand both in the domestic and foreign markets, Antara reported.

"Cultivation of the commodity has been recommended by a consultant from the Taiwanese Agricultural Technical Mission," a senior official of the local administration, Tari Soegijono, said here on Friday.

He said the Taiwanese businessmen plan to build a nursery for cultivating fungus on six hectares of land in Mojokerto, East Java, with an initial investment of US$35,000.

He said the nursery was expected to produce prime seeds of edible fungus packed in "polybags". The price of dried edible fungus grown by local farmers would be around Rp 8,000 while it can sell for Rp 40,000 on foreign markets.

According to Soegijono, a recent experiment showed that every 100 square meters of land would yield an annual net profit of almost Rp 6 million, while the price of prime seed stands at Rp 560/bag.