Black Rose Cultivation Fulfills Farmers' Dream of Prosperity

In June in Xing'an, the greenery is at its fullest. The reporter arrived at the edible fungus cultivation base of the Gandong Management and Protection Station of the Ganhe Forestry Bureau in the Greater Khingan Mountains of Inner Mongolia. Looking out, rows of neatly aligned fungus logs stood in formation, covered all over with glossy black fungus. Not far away, several workers were busy picking, sun-drying and bagging the harvest.

"Junfu, this fungus is growing well. If you can get three harvests, it will be worth the accounting. Looks like you really need to expand your scale." "Director Xiao, you're the one who led the way. The station supported me in setting up this edible fungus cultivation base, and the forestry bureau's labor union also provided me with a 30,000 yuan interest-free loan. Right now the fungus is doing well, and it has also provided jobs for 6 workers. I feel quite a sense of accomplishment, and I truly thank you." Xiao Meng, deputy director of the Gandong Management and Protection Station, and Wu Junfu, former head of the station's production team, were chatting happily.

"Cultivating black fungus requires patience. You have to water carefully at ordinary times. After the fungus bags are placed in the ground in May, it takes about a month or so for the bags to be full of mycelium, and then the 'black roses' grow out of the bags." Worker Dong Yajie, while picking fungus, introduced this to the reporter warmly and humorously.

After the complete halt of commercial logging in natural forests, the leadership of this management and protection station actively mobilized and encouraged employees to develop projects that enrich the people, proposing the goal of "no halt in production despite the logging ban, and no reduction in income." The workers who had put down their chainsaws and axes were all thinking and taking action. The station's deputy director made three trips to the home of a major black fungus cultivator at the Keyihe Forestry Bureau. After obtaining the true know-how of cultivation, he rolled up his sleeves and began his entrepreneurial path in black fungus cultivation. At present, the more than 60,000 bags of edible fungus he painstakingly cultivated were about to yield a bumper harvest, and his heart was as sweet as if smeared with honey.

Xiao Meng's use of the "fungus economy" to lead employees in entrepreneurship and prosperity deeply influenced Wu Junfu. After repeated experiments, he used the bagged ground-placement method to produce high-quality fungus and sold it at a good price. After extensive investigation and study, the party and administrative leadership of the station provided him free of charge with more than 2,000 sq m of office area, abandoned work-section housing, and more than 10 mu of land to support his black fungus cultivation, hoping that by supporting major edible fungus cultivators they could lead the station's employees to prosperity together and achieve the goal of generating gold from "bags."

Xu Honglin, director of the station, said: "With logging halted, we are not idle either. We are still very busy. Next, we will learn from the major cultivators. If feasible, we will also look into cultivating nameko mushrooms and lingzhi. Developing in this way, we will certainly turn the goal of 'no halt in production despite the logging ban, and no reduction in income' into a beautiful reality."