Chenxi's small wood ear mushrooms grow into a big industry for prosperity
Shu Xiangjun is picking black wood ear mushrooms.
Cooperative members are picking wood ear mushrooms.
Weeding the fields, picking newly grown wood ear mushrooms... Early in the morning on April 10, in Yanmen Village, Houtang Yao Ethnic Township, Chenxi County, Shu Xiangjun, head of the Xiangjun Black Wood Ear Mushroom Planting Farmers' Cooperative, led members in busying themselves at the black wood ear mushroom planting base.
"We need dried wood ear mushrooms here. However much your cooperative can ship, we'll take it all." During a break from weeding, Shu Xiangjun received an order call from Xiahou Jun, a long-time customer from Xupu. After calculating the inventory, Shu Xiangjun told Xiahou Jun that the cooperative could supply 10,000 kg of wood ear mushrooms and could ship within a week. After hanging up, Shu Xiangjun walked straight to the nearby wood ear mushroom sorting area to guide the members in preparing for the order.
Shu Xiangjun is well known far and wide in the industry. In 2012, Shu Xiangjun, then secretary of the Yanmen Village Party branch, took out a personal loan of 500,000 yuan to develop a black wood ear mushroom planting base in order to develop the industry and lead the people out of poverty toward prosperity. However, due to a lack of technology, the black wood ear mushroom planting did not succeed. With an unyielding character, Shu Xiangjun traveled far to Zhejiang, Guizhou and other places to study techniques, borrowed more than 2 million yuan, and conducted trial plantings in Yanmen, Wangjia and other villages in the township, achieving a bumper harvest that year.
After tasting the joy of success, Shu Xiangjun pressed on and gradually expanded the scale. In 2015, with both capital and technology mature, Shu Xiangjun established the Chenxi County Xiangjun Black Wood Ear Mushroom Planting Farmers' Cooperative, developing more than 110 member households, adopting the "company + base + farmers" targeted poverty alleviation model of the "four follow four go" approach to help poor households escape poverty and become prosperous.
"In the past, relying only on farming, one mu of land brought at most just over 1,000 yuan in income. After joining the cooperative, annual income can at least triple or quadruple..." In the wood ear mushroom packaging area, cooperative member Shu Xiangyou from Yanmen Village said happily that joining the cooperative brings both dividend income and wage income. He decided to transfer another 10 mu of land this year, striving to shake off the hat of poverty, and next year add some new furniture to his home. In 2016, the Xiangjun Black Wood Ear Mushroom Planting Farmers' Cooperative produced more than 50,000 kg of dried wood ear mushrooms annually, with annual profits reaching more than 2 million yuan, driving more than 90 poor households to increase their per capita annual income by at least nearly 4,000 yuan.
"The county has listed the black wood ear mushroom planting industry as a key poverty alleviation industry, and there will be more policy support." Shu Xiangjun said that this year the cooperative will gradually expand its scale to 1,000 mu, absorb more poor people, and let the people become prosperous.