NAIROBI: A large mushroom farm near the Kenyan capital of Nairobi is one of a kind: It grows fungi on an industrial scale &mdash; not as food for restaurants but as a building material that some Kenyans say could make more people homeowners. The farm produces mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms that a local company then uses to make building materials it says are more sustainable than regular brick and mortar. The company, MycoTile, combines the roots with natural fibers and agents to make panels that can be used for everything from roof and wall insulation to interior decor, at a fraction of the cost of building with standard clay bricks. It currently produces about 3,000 square meters (yards) of such materials every month. Street vendor Jedidah Murugi, whose house was made with fungi-based construction materials, said she believes &ldquo;there is no huge difference in the quality of the houses made from brick and these boards.&rdquo; &ldquo;The only difference,&rdquo; she said, is in the cost. Her house, she added, &ldquo;is not cold at night and neither is it hot during the day.&rdquo; Fungi as an answer to Nairobi&#39;s housing crisisMycoTile&rsquo;s work could be a boon for Nairobi, where local leaders cite a housing crisis that has left many homeless or living in informal settlements and dwelling enclaves, prone to fires and sanitary issues. Official figures say there is a housing deficit of at least 2 million units in this metropolis of over 5 million people. Most Kenyans are renters, while homeowners typically build from the ground up over many years, rather than hiring contractors. It is common to find people living in poorly finished or incomplete homes to avoid paying rent elsewhere. &ldquo;Introducing affordable materials like ours taps into an existing huge market and contributes to providing affordable housing solutions,&rdquo; said Mtamu Kililo, MycoTile&#39;s founder. Kililo said his company&#39;s insulation products cost roughly two-thirds of the price of standard materials. Building a one-bedroom unit in Nairobi using materials such as brick, timber and tin sheets typically costs up to 150,000 Kenyan shillings (about $1,000), for a simple structure, and the figure can double depending on the quality of finishes, according to estimates from builders. Using mushroom-root panels could shave off a third of the cost of building a house with bricks and mortar. Murugi, the street vendor, spent about 26,880 Kenyan shillings ($208) on the panels for her 15 square meter (161 square feet) home. Mycelium-based materials are more sustainableKenyan authorities have recently started working on a national plan for decarbonizing construction and building, with local-led innovation at its center. As part of the plan, the government allows MycoTile to use facilities at the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute in Nairobi, where it has access to machinery. MycoTile&rsquo;s fungi-based construction panels are more sustainable than traditional ones because they are biodegradable and harmless to the environment, Kililo told The Associated Press. His idea was not novel &mdash; others elsewhere have experimented with mycelium. The first mycelium house in the southern African nation of Namibia was built by the nonprofit group MycoHAB in May 2024, using technology developed for NASA. In the Netherlands, one inventor makes mushroom coffins by binding mycelium with hemp fiber in a special mold that ends up resembling an unpainted sarcophagus from ancient Egypt. Sustainable products from biogenic materials are desirable because they have a low carbon footprint and potentially contribute no emissions, Nickson Otieno, an architect and sustainability expert in Nairobi, said. Construction &ldquo;is one of the major emitters,&rdquo; he added. The Global Buildings Performance Network, a think tank, earlier this year warned that Kenya &ldquo;risks locking in decades of carbon-intensive construction&rdquo; without targeted intervention. Kililo said his company also uses agricultural waste in its production process, reducing potential pollutants and easing pressure on waste disposal systems. &ldquo;We go to western Kenya, where there are many sugar manufacturing factories, and collect the waste matter,&rdquo; he said. The pasteurized agricultural waste is introduced to the mycelium composite from the farmed mushrooms, binding it into dense panels. MycoTile uses up around 250 tons of agricultural waste annually, Kililo said. A mushroom farm in RwandaFor Kililo, the idea came during a research fellowship in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, home to one of the largest mushroom farms in East Africa. Kililo said he learned the process of mushroom farming there. &ldquo;The used substrates looked like brick, and I thought I could use those in the building industry,&rdquo; he said. Returning to Kenya, he decided to create small blocks in his kitchen as part of his research into the fungal basis of sustainable building &mdash; never imagining it could someday become commercial. &ldquo;I started doing a similar process, growing them in my pantry, baking them in my oven,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Initially, it was purely research.&rdquo;

Africa

A Kenyan company, MycoTile, uses mycelium from mushrooms to create affordable, eco-friendly building panels, helping address Nairobi’s housing crisis by reducing construction costs and reusing agricultural waste for sustainable, low-carbon housing solutions.

Building with mushrooms: A sustainable answer to Kenya’s housing crisis

NEW DELHI: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has died in India, Indian police said Wednesday. He was aged 80. &quot;The death is confirmed,&quot; Krishnan M, additional superintendent of police in India&#39;s southern state of Kerala, told AFP. &quot;The Kenyan national was on a walk with his sister, daughter, and a personal doctor when he suddenly collapsed. An Indian police security officer and a Kenyan security officer were also with them at the time. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, but was declared dead.&quot; Odinga&#39;s death was also confirmed to AFP by a member of his political team but they requested anonymity while awaiting an official announcement from the party. A spokesman for the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Kerala also confirmed the death. &lsquo;Breathing difficulties&rsquo;&quot;This morning, around 07:45 am, Mr Raila was on his morning walks,&quot; the spokesman told AFP. &quot;Suddenly he experienced some breathing difficulties and collapsed. He was provided CPR, on the spot and having seen some sign of recovery, he was rushed to the nearest modern hospital. Despite repeated efforts by the medicos, his condition deteriorated and the doctors were unable to save him.&quot; Born on January 7, 1945, he spent his early years in politics either in jail or in exile, fighting for democracy during the autocratic rule of president Daniel arap Moi. A member of the Luo tribe, he entered parliament in 1992 and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022, claiming to have been cheated of victory in the last four elections.

Asia

Born on January 7, 1945, he spent his early years in politics either in jail or in exile, fighting for democracy during the autocratic rule of president Daniel arap Moi.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga dies in India: police

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NEW YORK: The United Nations General Assembly features many voices each year. While some dominate headlines, others do not. Here are some notable remarks from the second day of the 2025 debate that might not have captured the headlines.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sierra Leone&rsquo;s President Julius Maada Bio emphasized equality among nations, saying sovereignty is not diminished by size and that it is &ldquo;equal, and our responsibilities are the same. Leadership is not the loudest voice in the room. It is the clearest voice for justice,&rdquo; he said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spain&rsquo;s King Felipe VI underscored the importance of rules and how they &ldquo;shape behaviors to which the vast majority of international actors adhere. Even when they are breached, they provide a basis for accountability and enforcement. Rules are the voice of reason used in international relations,&rdquo; he said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He called rules &ldquo;the best defense against the rule of the strongest.&rdquo; He warned that without adherence, the world risks sliding back to &ldquo;the Middle Ages.&rdquo;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kenyan President William Ruto cautioned that global institutions lose relevance when they resist change. &ldquo;Institutions rarely fail because they lack vision or ideals. More often, they drift into irrelevance when they fail to adapt, hesitate to act, and lose legitimacy. To remain relevant, institutions must be re-imagined, reformed, renewed, and aligned with emerging realities,&rdquo; he said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Estonian&nbsp;President Alar Karis spoke bluntly on global conflicts, declaring, &ldquo;Brutality prevails. We simply cannot let this go on.&rdquo;<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Croatian&nbsp;President Zoran Milanović linked peace efforts to breaking cycles of past violence. &ldquo;Peace is more than silencing the guns. It requires preventing new wars and breaking the cycles of violence from the past,&rdquo; he said.

Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Europe

The United Nations General Assembly features many voices each year. While some dominate headlines, others do not. Here are some notable remarks from the second day of the 2025 debate that might not have captured the headlines.

Articles tagged with "Kenya"

Building with mushrooms: A sustainable answer to Kenya’s housing crisis

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga dies in India: police

UNGA 2025: World leaders in their own words