“A small room could start an exciting agricultural adventure,” This is how Nouraldin Shtaya began his adventure to produce oyster mushrooms with the aim of creating an integrated Palestinian project encompassing all production inputs. Nouraldin succeeded in cultivating oyster mushrooms due to a combination of factors; his academic background in food technology and nutrition, the legacy of knowledge from being raised in a rural family and the experiences he encountered with organic farming in Italy.
Nouraldin conducted preliminary experiments in mushroom cultivation in 2014. However, information and knowledge at the time were not enough to make this experiment succeed. After completing his master's degree in Food Technology and Nutrition at the University of Naples, Italy, in 2018, where he was able to produce the oyster mushrooms seeds in the university laboratories, he moved to work at the Biodiversity & Environmental Research Center (BERC) in Til (Nablus). There, Nouraldin was able to produce oyster mushrooms in one room, marketed it via Facebook, and participated in local exhibitions. The most important market for him was “Akli Baladi Market” (my food is baladi), organized by Sharaka volunteer group. Now, his mushroom farm has been expanded to an area of 200 square meters.
According to Nouraldin, “The importance of mushroom production lies in it being one of the foods with high nutritional value, containing proteins and essential nutrients, and is often referred to as the "vegetarian meat", in addition to it being produced organically, with no use of any chemicals. The importance of this project also lies in creating job opportunities for those interested in starting their own oyster mushroom farms, by providing them with the mushroom spawn I produce at the farm. That’s how the idea began to spread especially that oyster mushroom farming is new and non-traditional in our region.”
Thanks to youth initiatives like Nouraldin’s that produce food varieties that were not previously available in the Palestinian market, we can now enjoy locally produced oyster mushrooms.
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Product Availability: Year-round
Volunteering opportunities: Assisting in marketing and preparing promotional materials on oyster mushrooms.
Product Selling Points:
- Adel Fairtrade.
- Al-Mutamayizoon Supermarket, Nablus.
- Al-Tal Al-Akhdar, NablusPer order.