Post-80s village official develops shiitake mushroom industry to lead villagers to prosperity
Wang Xuedong, born in the 1980s, is the head of the Lingxiang Shiitake Mushroom Planting Professional Cooperative in Lingxiang Township, Daye City, and was once a top student at Hubei Institute of Fine Arts.
From this land he went to the city, and from the city he returned to the countryside.
He had a dream in his heart: to lead the honest folks of his hometown out of poverty and toward prosperity.
On a day in late December 2015, at the shiitake mushroom planting base, Wang Xuedong held gift box samples in his hands. These were the exquisite packages he had specially designed for the shiitake mushrooms.
Setting Down the Paintbrush to Learn Mushroom Cultivation
In 2012, Wang Xuedong was a development department supervisor at a garment company in Guangzhou, earning a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan.
He resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown of Daye, took the provincial college graduate village official recruitment exam, and became deputy secretary of the Party branch of Hepu Village in Lingxiang Township.
He said that while drifting away from home, he still thought of his hometown in Hubei thousands of li away, and wanted to help disadvantaged rural groups start businesses and achieve prosperity together, realizing his own value.
Mushroom cultivation began in 2013. At that time, he heard that farmers in Suizhou had become wealthy by growing shiitake mushrooms, and immediately thought that Daye had natural conditions similar to Suizhou and could also develop shiitake cultivation. He decided to experiment on his own first, and once successful, lead the villagers to do it together. In June 2014, he took out all his savings and borrowed money from here and there, raising 170,000 yuan to register and establish the Lingxiang Mushroom Industry Family Farm, starting to cultivate the finest grade of shiitake - flower shiitake mushrooms.
Wang Xuedong paid his own way to study in Suizhou and actively participated in related training. To save on labor costs, he and his wife went up the mountain to cut bamboo and build mushroom sheds, developing thick calluses and leaving scar after scar on their hands.
The production process of flower shiitake mushrooms requires sterilization, and during sterilization the fire cannot go out. The couple took turns keeping watch 24 hours a day, and when sleepy they set up a bamboo bed beside the boiler for a brief rest.
Through this bit-by-bit accumulation, this "outsider" who had studied fine arts gradually began to figure things out. In December 2014, the base's 20,000 bags of flower shiitake mushrooms finally fruited. Watching little "umbrellas" pop out of the mushroom bags, Wang Xuedong felt as if he were welcoming children he had raised through bitter toil, and was overjoyed.
The flower shiitake mushrooms were produced - but how to find a market?
He took 80 jin of flower shiitake mushrooms to the vegetable market in town and set up a stall to try his luck. Unexpectedly, many people gathered around to look and said it was the first time they had seen such beautiful and fresh flower shiitake mushrooms. In just 2 hours, the 80 jin of flower shiitake mushrooms sold out. This was the couple's first time running a stall, and they barely even knew how to use the scale. Recalling how clumsy they were at the time, Wang Xuedong could not help but laugh.
After all the flower shiitake mushrooms of the season were sold, Wang Xuedong became even more steadfast in his original dream.
Building a Brand and Testing the Waters of E-commerce
In April 2015, Wang Xuedong led the establishment of the Daye City Lingxiang Flower Shiitake Mushroom Planting Professional Cooperative, serving as its chairman. To help members quickly master flower shiitake mushroom cultivation techniques, the cooperative hired 5 full-time technicians to carry out "follow-up" training.
Good products also need a good brand. After the "Lingxiang Flower Shiitake Mushroom" registered trademark was approved, Wang Xuedong brought his art expertise into play, personally participating in the design of multiple product gift box packages and the cooperative's work uniforms, and also compiled an illustrated guide to flower shiitake mushroom production procedures, striving for perfection in every detail.
The cooperative's flower shiitake mushrooms are mainly sold fresh from production, primarily to the Futian Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Shenzhen, Guangdong. In October 2015, Wang Xuedong began testing e-commerce marketing, posting daily updates on WeChat, Weibo, and Taobao about the environment in which members grow flower shiitake mushrooms and their work process, letting netizens clearly see how these green products grow little by little.
Leveraging the radiating effect of e-commerce platforms, "Lingxiang Flower Shiitake Mushrooms" sold all over the country and attracted out-of-town merchants to come purchase on site. At present, 8,000 jin of fresh flower shiitake mushrooms and 300 jin of dried flower shiitake mushrooms have been presold, with sales revenue reaching 130,000 yuan.
The Lingxiang Flower Shiitake Mushroom Planting Professional Cooperative currently has 35 member households. In 2015 it grew a total of 220,000 bags of flower shiitake mushrooms, with an output value of more than 3.5 million yuan, and average household income for members reached 90,000 yuan.
"Only by increasing the added value of agricultural products can farmers truly benefit," Wang Xuedong explained. In 2016, the cooperative will expand to surrounding villages, and the number of members is expected to increase 3-fold. As flower shiitake mushroom output further increases, he is contacting a local food production enterprise, preparing to purchase refrigeration equipment and jointly develop shiitake mushroom sauce products.