Diabetic patients have been urged to consume more mushrooms to build body immunity and protect themselves against other related diseases.

According to Lawrence Ansu Twene, a mushroom production expert and farmer, regular mushroom consumption reduces cholesterol, high blood pressure and protects consumers from liver and chronic diseases.

He added the stuff had essential health benefits for pregnant women and children.

Speaking at a two-day training workshop on mushroom production in Sunyani, Mr Twene said apart from the health benefits and nutritional value, mushroom production had huge economic potentials and called on the government to invest into and make the sector attractive for the youth.

He dispelled the wrong public perception that mushroom farming was a reserve for the illiterate and advised unemployed graduates to engage in the sector to create jobs for themselves and enhance their socio-economic livelihoods.

Global Media Foundation, a media advocacy non-governmental organisation organised the training for 150 vulnerable women including head potters, single and teenage mothers in the Sunyani Municipality.

They were selected from Abesim, Antwikrom, Korasua, Wawasua, Atronie, Tweredie and Benua-Nkwanta.

The training is part of a women empowerment project being implemented by the NGO with funding from the Global Affairs Canada and Plan International, NGOs.

Titled “Women Empowerment and Enterprise Development (WEED) Project”, the five-month project would further promote women's inclusion in decision-making processes and also overcome all forms of sexual and gender-based violence.

Mr Twene explained mushroom production was very lucrative and had ready market both domestic and export, saying consumers and traders bought the stuff from farm gates.

According to Christiana Korankye, the GLOMeF Project Coordinator, the project would directly provide employable skill training to 500 vulnerable women, including People with Disabilities (PWDs), who would engage in mushroom production and soap preparation to create jobs for themselves.