Black fungus cultivation sets 61-year-old Zhang Xiurong on the road to prosperity

A family plagued by misfortune, entrepreneurship became the only choice

A few years ago, Zhang Xiurong's family suffered a series of misfortunes. Her eldest son died tragically while trying to rescue a drowning elderly person, her youngest son was injured in an explosion while working away from home and was left disabled, and her husband, unable to face such a heavy blow, developed depression. All of this made what had once been a happy family struggle to get by. The villagers all thought Zhang Xiurong would not be able to get through this ordeal. But Zhang Xiurong told herself she absolutely must not fall; she decided to shoulder the burden of the family. Yet what to do left Zhang Xiurong at a loss. In 2014, Zhang Xiurong happened to attend a black fungus cultivation technology training class, and this experience made her feel she had found hope. After investigating, she discovered that Zhalantun has a good ecological environment and very clear water sources, making it highly suitable for black fungus growth, and it could be grown right in her own home. With not a penny to her name, Zhang Xiurong scraped together a 9,000 yuan loan and, in her own yard, began her road to entrepreneurship.

Continuous learning, first taste of the sweet fruit of entrepreneurship

What to do when you don't know how to grow it? Zhang Xiurong humbly sought advice from the teachers at the black fungus office and kept learning. Technical staff also provided Zhang Xiurong with follow-up training and technical guidance, and together with Zhang Xiurong's meticulous care, the black fungus she grew that year earned her a total of more than 9,000 yuan after deducting costs. With a year of growing experience, Zhang Xiurong still did not dare give up on understanding and learning about technology. After learning about the latest "black fungus hanging-bag greenhouse three-dimensional cultivation" technology, and considering the limited space in her own yard, Zhang Xiurong thought about changing the original ground-placement growing model. If three-dimensional cultivation were carried out in the existing yard, according to her budget it could grow nearly 4 times the original amount. Because greenhouse production of black fungus is less affected by weather during the growing process, the quality is pure and pollution-free, and it can be harvested 1 month earlier to seize an early market, the net profit per hanging bag of fungus is 1 to 3 yuan higher than that of ground-grown fungus, with considerable economic benefits.

Sorting and selecting by grade, black fungus sold across the country

"Even good wine fears a deep alley" - with a good product, how should it be sold? Zhang Xiurong, who was good at thinking things through, changed the previous bulk-pack sales format and, through manual sorting, divided the fungus into five grades sold at prices ranging from 45 yuan to 85 yuan, which not only gave consumers more choices but also greatly increased income. In 2015, driven by Zhang Xiurong, the office where she was located established Aunt Zhang Black Fungus Professional Planting Cooperative. The Zhalantun Municipal Government Poverty Alleviation Office raised 125,000 yuan through the Zhongchou website to help Zhang Xiurong build a 320 sq m steel-pipe greenhouse. Using hanging-bag greenhouse three-dimensional cultivation technology, Zhang Xiurong arranged 10 layers, planted 22,000 bags, harvested 1,000 kg of fungus, and achieved a net profit of 30,000 yuan, with products sold as far away as Beijing, Dalian and other places. Through Ganji website and Taobao website, not only did "a handful of fungus" become popular, but Zhang Xiurong also became a black fungus cultivation celebrity, and villagers followed her one after another in growing black fungus in their own yards.

With enough effort, even an iron hammer can be ground into a needle! Through learning technology, Zhang Xiurong used greenhouse three-dimensional cultivation and founded a cooperative to achieve more income. In sales, she chose to sell by product grade, and also used e-commerce platforms to broaden the market and attract outside investment to expand sales channels.