Growing mushrooms with cow dung gives farmers in Fengdu, Chongqing a path to higher income

As the beef cattle industry in Fengdu grows ever stronger, the disposal of cow dung has become a major problem constraining the development of the county's beef cattle industry. To this end, Fengdu County has explored many avenues in search of good ways to turn cow dung into a valuable resource, using it to produce organic fertilizer, generate biogas, and raise earthworms... Among these, growing button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) with cow dung has become a sunrise industry for cow dung disposal and recycling, effectively driving up farmers' incomes.

Cow dung becomes the treasure of the button mushroom industry

Recently, it has been the peak season for button mushrooms. At the button mushroom purchasing point in Luojiaqiao Village, Rensha Town, this writer saw many mushroom growers using tricycles, pickup trucks, trucks and other transport to bring the button mushrooms they had grown here to sell.

"My family grows 10 mu of button mushrooms, and they grow very fast. If you don't harvest for a single day, many of them will 'open their caps,' which lowers their quality and seriously affects the price. Since mid-October last year, coming here to sell button mushrooms has been my daily 'required course.' It's a bit tiring, but there's income every day, and I feel very secure," said Chen Zuowei, a large-scale button mushroom grower in Chunhuashan Village, Xinglong Town, Fengdu County.

"So cow dung has this use too - it can quickly promote the growth of button mushrooms and broaden our path to higher income and wealth. In the past we really hated cow dung, because it not only stinks but also seriously pollutes the environment," said Lan Xiaohong, a villager from Sanxianhu Village, Dongjia Town, Fengdu County, who was waiting nearby to sell button mushrooms. She only started growing button mushrooms with strong support from Chongqing Xunye Edible Mushroom Cultivation and Development Co., Ltd. It was precisely because she saw the benefits that she increased her investment this year, putting in nearly 200,000 yuan and transferring 30 mu of land to grow button mushrooms. So far, she has harvested more than 20,000 jin of button mushrooms and sold them for about 60,000 yuan. This season's button mushrooms can still be harvested for more than 4 months, and she expects to earn another 240,000 yuan.

Button mushrooms become a good helper for poor households to escape poverty and become wealthy

"With strong support from the Rensha Town government and the village-based work team, I also grew 0.6 mu of button mushrooms this year. To help me escape poverty and become wealthy as soon as possible, the government not only provided plastic film and substrate free of charge, but also often arranged for technical staff to come to the fields to guide me personally," said Dai Yongchang, a villager who was selling button mushrooms. After the button mushrooms entered their peak season, he had already sold more than 3,000 yuan worth, and by growing button mushrooms alone he can escape poverty.

Dai Yongchang is a registered poor household in Hangjiaping Village, Rensha Town, Fengdu County. He is old and frail, his two daughters have married out of the family, and he still has a son studying at university. The income he and his wife earn from farming at home is the family's main source of income. Because growing button mushrooms does not require much labor, it has become a good industry for older and weaker people like Old Dai to escape poverty and become wealthy.

A relevant person in charge of Rensha Town introduced that this year, relying on the advantages of the button mushroom industry, the town encouraged poor households to grow button mushrooms. For poor households willing to grow button mushrooms, the town provided plastic film, substrate and other materials free of charge, and organized staff to provide technical guidance.

It is understood that this year Rensha Town raised 1.1 million yuan to help 435 poor households develop 234 mu of button mushrooms. Each mu can achieve an output value of 15,000 yuan, and the poor households participating in button mushroom cultivation can increase their income by more than 8,000 yuan per household on average.

According to staff at the purchasing point, since purchasing began in mid-November, they have bought more than 200,000 jin of button mushrooms.

"We grade the button mushrooms by quality into grade-one, grade-two and grade-three mushrooms. Grade-one mushrooms are 3 yuan/jin, grade-two mushrooms are 2 yuan/jin, and grade-three mushrooms are 1 yuan/jin," the staff member told reporters. Grade-one mushrooms are for fresh sale, while grade-two and grade-three mushrooms can be used to make salted mushrooms, which can raise the added value of the button mushrooms.

The county develops 2,000 mu of button mushrooms, able to consume 10,000 tons of cow dung

With the rise of the beef cattle industry in Fengdu County, the amount of cow dung has increased rapidly and keeps piling up, bringing serious harm to the ecological environment and people's lives. Cow dung is the best organic fertilizer for growing button mushrooms, and developing the button mushroom industry is exactly a good way to handle cow dung.

"Growing button mushrooms is an effective way to handle cow dung," said Chen Shijun, technical director of Xunye Edible Mushroom Cultivation and Development Co., Ltd. In many people's eyes, cow dung is waste and a pollutant, and very troublesome to deal with, but cow dung is very beneficial for developing button mushrooms. It is a very useful organic fertilizer, and after using cow dung to grow button mushrooms, the farmland is especially fertile - you can grow high-quality vegetables and fruits without applying fertilizer.

According to Chen Shijun, one mu of button mushrooms can handle 5 tons of cow dung. At present, our county has developed 2,000 mu of button mushrooms in townships including Rensha, Xinglong, Gaojia and Dongjia, which can effectively handle 10,000 tons of cow dung, equivalent to the annual manure output of more than 10,000 cattle.

"Although this cannot fundamentally solve the cow dung problem, I believe the button mushroom industry will grow year by year, and its capacity to consume cow dung will also increase year by year," said Chen Shijun.