Linyi First Secretary's Shiitake Mushroom Project Leads Villagers to Prosperity

First Secretary Wang Haidong (left) inspects the growth of shiitake mushrooms in a greenhouse.

In order to help villagers escape poverty and become prosperous, Wang Haidong, the First Secretary dispatched by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission to Nanrongfu Village, Duozhuang Town, Mengyin County, overcame numerous difficulties to develop shiitake mushroom cultivation. By giving poor households direct dividends and hiring poor households for work, he helped poor households shed their "poverty caps," increasing the village collective's income by more than 30,000 yuan per year.

Just after the Spring Festival, in Nanrongfu Village, Duozhuang Town, Mengyin County, Yang Yuanting, an impoverished resident, came early to the shiitake mushroom greenhouse to pick mushrooms. The income of 70 yuan per day made him quite satisfied. Besides earning money by working in the greenhouse, Yang Yuanting could also receive dividends from the mushroom income. As a greenhouse built with the help of the First Secretary, the clause about distributing dividends to poor households was also written into the contracting agreement. Contractor Song Bingqi said: "During the slack farming season, poor households can pick mushrooms in the greenhouse or thin the buds of the shiitake mushrooms. The wage is 70 yuan per person per day. After the greenhouse is in operation, the dividends paid out are 400 yuan per household per year."

When shiitake mushroom cultivation was first started, First Secretary Wang Haidong also encountered many setbacks in growing them. The main difficulties, besides the villagers' insufficient understanding of shiitake mushrooms, included technical difficulties. At the very beginning, in order to save costs and attract more villagers to join, some simple arch greenhouses were used. But unfortunately, the winter of 2015 saw rare heavy snow in decades, and the greenhouses collapsed under the weight.

The villagers, who had already been somewhat doubtful, became even less convinced. But Wang Haidong did not give up. He organized villagers to go out and learn shiitake mushroom cultivation techniques, and brought in experts from the province to give on-site instruction, once again building the villagers' confidence in growing shiitake mushrooms.

"Although we encountered many difficulties, we still decided to promote and develop the shiitake mushroom industry. This time, we adopted modern Korean-style double-layer greenhouses. In addition, we found young college students from the village and had them return to study in depth, so they could be responsible for the cultivation and management of the shiitake mushrooms," Wang Haidong explained. Soon, new shiitake mushroom greenhouses were built, and the villagers' enthusiasm ran high. At present, 4 high-standard double-layer greenhouses have been put into use with 30,000 mushroom sticks, achieving an annual output of 45,000 jin of shiitake mushrooms and increasing the village collective's income by 30,000 yuan.

Today, the village's shiitake mushroom industry is on the right track and has also signed purchase contracts with large enterprises. As the scale of shiitake mushroom cultivation further expands, First Secretary Wang Haidong has also coordinated the construction of street-side shops, using shiitake mushrooms as a lead to drive the development of rural service industries.

"Build four more greenhouses like these, and then strive to gradually make our shiitake mushroom industry bigger and stronger, forming a rolling style of development," Wang Haidong said full of confidence.