Once a clod of earth, now a golden egg that makes farmers rich

In recent years, Nuofu Township in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County has built on its ecological resources, accelerated the transformation and upgrading of its forestry industry, and developed the Poria cocos cultivation industry, achieving notable results and turning Poria cocos, once a "clod of earth" growing in the soil, into a "golden egg" that enriches local villagers.

Li Junhong, 35, is a farmer from the Wakuai villager group of Gedi Village in Nuofu Township. In 2012, he happened to hear a friend say that pine stumps could be used to grow Poria cocos, and there happened to be countless usable abandoned pine stumps in the logging area. So Li Junhong learned Poria cocos cultivation and management techniques, purchased 9,500 packets of Poria cocos mycelium spawn, and began trial planting. After careful cultivation, the following year he successfully dug up large Poria cocos, and 4 years of cultivation brought his family nearly 140,000 yuan in additional income.

Li Junhong said: "Poria cocos is planted one year and harvested the next, and for ordinary people it is a good path out of poverty toward prosperity."

Seeing that Li Junhong used pine stumps to grow Poria cocos, and that the technical and management requirements were relatively simple, making it an industry with low investment, high yield and good income, Li Jinhua of the same village also wanted to grow Poria cocos: "For ordinary people, this industry produces results fairly quickly, and I want to try growing it too."

It is understood that Poria cocos is a precious traditional Chinese medicine, a fungus plant parasitic on pine roots, and when used as medicine it has the functions of promoting diuresis and draining dampness, tonifying the spleen and harmonizing the stomach, and calming the heart and soothing the mind. Buyer Du Zuoxing keenly sensed the "money prospects" of the Poria cocos industry; his family alone purchases as much as 300 to 400 tons of Poria cocos from local villagers each year, and after initial processing it is sold at the market price of 15,000 yuan per ton, giving his family a fairly considerable annual income from Poria cocos. "I estimate I purchase roughly 300 to 400 tons of Poria cocos a year, and at this price, for now demand exceeds supply."

Nuofu Township is the township with the highest forest coverage rate and the largest growing stock in the county, with a forest area of 1.06 million mu. Its special geographical environment and climatic conditions have made Nuofu Township one of the areas with the richest biodiversity. The Party committee and government of Nuofu Township adapt to local conditions, using the natural characteristics of abundant mountains and extensive forests to encourage farmers to develop under-forest economies such as planting Chinese medicinal herbs and keeping honeybees, so as to increase income.

At present, Nuofu Township has a total of 1,116 scattered Poria cocos growers, with a cumulative planting area of 8,210 mu. Developing the under-forest economy has not only boosted ordinary people's confidence in escaping poverty, but has also, in the transformation and upgrading of under-forest industries, helped ordinary people identify their goals for developing industries, and has truly made the Poria cocos cultivation industry, with its low investment, high yield and quick results, a "fruit of poverty alleviation" for farmers.