The "Queen of Mushrooms" Lights Up Ma Wanbao's Path to Prosperity

The author came to the Wenquan river valley forest and saw a stretch of woodland covered with shade netting. Ducking under the net, clusters of little treasures with black heads and white bodies were growing vigorously in the soil. "This is morel, a precious edible mushroom. We've succeeded in trial-planting it!" said Ma Wanbao, the morel grower, delightedly.

Ma Wanbao, 54, is a native of Wenquan and did infrastructure and nursery stock business in his early years. By chance he saw an introduction on TV about making a fortune from morels. In 2016, when he learned that the Wenquan County Agricultural Technology Extension Station had introduced the spawn, he did not hesitate to trial-plant 5 mu of morels in his own river valley woodland. Zhou Zhenxiang, a technician at the Wenquan County Agricultural Technology Extension Station, explained that morels like a growing environment of "three parts sun, seven parts shade," and the ecological environment and humidity of the Wenquan river valley forest are very suitable for morel growth. "After market research, I learned that few people are growing morels in **, the market prospects are broad, and once they're grown well there's certainly no worry about selling them," Ma Wanbao said. The morel is named for its net-like surface and oval shape, which slightly resembles a sheep's stomach. It contains a variety of amino acids the human body needs, and has long been known by the laudatory name "Queen of Mushrooms."

"At present, the market price of dried morels is 1,800 yuan per kg, and fresh mushrooms are 200 yuan per kg. Calculating on this year's yield of 150 kg per mu, the output value per mu is 30,000 yuan, and the benefit per mu is as high as more than 20,000 yuan. My morels were taken away by buyers as soon as they were picked, so there's no worry about sales at all. These past few days orders have kept coming in one after another. This year I want to expand the planting area, and I plan to take advantage of the Belt and Road opportunity to export them abroad," Ma Wanbao told the reporter.

It is understood that Ma Wanbao's morel planting area is currently only 5 mu. The local government is actively seeking project investment and is building a 150 sq m drying plant. Later, through the "company + cooperative + farmers" model, it will expand the planting area, build an ecological edible mushroom planting industry in the river valley forest, and attract more ordinary people to join the ranks of those getting rich.

Text and photos: Li Wenting

Editor: Wang Wei

Supervisor: Tian Feng