Development of methods for growing mushrooms from the waste from cassava peel

Abstract

Cassava and yam are important food security crops for approximately 700 million people in the world. Post-harvest losses however are significant and come in the three forms: (a) physical; (b) economic through discounting or processing into low value products and (c) from bio-wastes. This GRATITUDE project aims to reduce these losses to enhance the role that these crops play in food and income security. There are 3 impact pathways: (a) reduction of physical losses – focusing on fresh yams storage, (b) value added processing reducing physical and economic losses in yam and cassava and (c) improved utilisation of wastes (peels, liquid waste, spent brewery waste) producing products for human consumption including snack foods, mushrooms and animal feed. The work has been divided into 7 work packages. This report focuses on work package 4. The general objective of WP4 is to generate value added products from the wastes arising from cassava and yam value chains. The work package requires technical knowledge and expertise that would result in practical applications to increase food security at the low level of technology and at a higher level, increase business opportunities and reduce the damage done to the environment by providing new solutions to use the wastes. The aim of this work package is to expand/open new market opportunities for new products and added valued products generated from the waste of cassava and yam. Methods would be developed to utilize cassava and yam peels/leaves for mushroom production