Wenchuan Villagers in Sichuan Trial-Grow Morel Mushrooms, Boldly Exploring a Path to Prosperity

"I used to only find morel mushrooms in the mountains, and never thought they could be cultivated artificially." At noon on April 5, in a field in Zhangpai Village, Miansi Town, Wenchuan County, under sheets of black shade netting, morel mushrooms were poking their heads out one after another, growing vigorously and drawing quite a few nearby villagers to come and see the "novelty."

Inside the greenhouse, grower Xu Xingjian was hand-picking mature morel mushrooms. Under his lead, this writer also crawled into one of the greenhouses. The soil inside the greenhouse had been manually divided into four beds, each covered with quite a bit of green weeds, but on closer look, mushrooms shaped like a "morel" had already emerged from the soil among the weeds, the tallest ones already over 10 cm.

Xu Xingjian inspecting the growth of the morel mushrooms

"These are all ready to be picked and sold, and we have been picking them for about 10 days now." With a small basket hooked over one arm and a small knife held gently in the other hand, Xu Xingjian would gently pull up a mature morel mushroom when he saw one, then trim off the soil-covered root with the small knife and put it into the basket. "When picking, you have to be gentle; especially when pulling, you must not damage the morel mushroom's mycelium and affect the growth of the other small mushrooms," Xu Xingjian told this writer.

No wonder Xu Xingjian was so careful. "Right now, the price of morel mushrooms just as they hit the market is about 100 yuan per jin." Holding a morel mushroom as long as his palm, he told this writer that this one was probably worth more than 10 yuan.

"At first I never thought about growing morel mushrooms either. By a twist of fate, I only thought of growing them after making a bet with a friend. These morel mushrooms were all planted just last year, and the investment in the greenhouses alone has already exceeded 200,000 yuan." Speaking of his experience growing morel mushrooms, Xu Xingjian had a great deal of emotion.

After joking and making a bet with a friend, Xu Xingjian began pondering how to develop morel mushroom cultivation. "Morel mushrooms have high economic value, and Zhangpai Village also produces morel mushrooms. If the trial planting succeeds, it will definitely make money." Xu Xingjian said that when he first started, he was still crossing the river by feeling for the stones, looking up information online and making trips elsewhere to investigate. At first, he himself did not believe he could grow morel mushrooms, but he rented 13 mu of land in Zhangpai Village and began trial cultivation, and succeeded.

Morel mushrooms growing vigorously

This writer did some calculations: for 13 mu of land, according to Xu Xingjian, 1 mu can produce 400 jin of morel mushrooms, with a retail price of about 120 yuan per jin. If the harvest is good and sales are good, he could earn more than 600,000 yuan in a year, which could truly be called a bright "money prospect."

"I figured out morel mushroom cultivation entirely on my own, and the hardships involved are truly hard to put into words." Xu Xingjian admitted frankly. During the trial planting process, Xu Xingjian kept exploring experience, mastering the suitable soil structure and climate conditions, and grasping the differences between open-air cultivation and greenhouse cultivation, the advantages and disadvantages, the growth conditions, the yield levels, and the quality of the morel mushrooms. He also transformed into a cultivation "expert."

Xu Xingjian said that morel mushrooms have high economic benefits and are a very good project for getting rich. In the future, they will expand the planting area year by year, make the morel mushroom industry bigger and stronger and bring it to scale, and help more farming households increase their incomes and get rich.