Armillaria mushrooms lift Jiao Xiaomei's dream of prosperity in Tianshui, Gansu
In Dangchuan in early winter, fallen leaves and dead branches lie thickly across the forest floor, soft underfoot. More yellow leaves cling to the trees; when the wind rises, a few drift down, carrying only the feel of an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. The black locust leaves have all fallen, and the bare, withered branches look desolate - a fine picture of distant winter days.
On the morning of November 16, accompanied by a rare burst of warm sunshine, the reporter arrived at the Hengmei Chinese Medicinal Herbs Farmers' Cooperative in Shizui Village, Dangchuan Township, Maiji District, Tianshui City. A large batch of Armillaria bottles stood neatly arranged in the yard, and piles of various materials rose like small hills; they looked a bit bulky but not messy, giving off instead a strong sense of abundance.
Jiao Xiaomei, the cooperative's legal representative, was adding a specially formulated nutrient solution to the mushroom bottles. Seeing the reporter arrive, she quickly set down her work and greeted him warmly. Her confidence and shrewdness left no trace of a rural housewife; instead, she had the presence of a woman of strong drive.
At 26, Jiao Xiaomei is already the mother of two children. She shouldered the heavy burden of a family earlier than her peers, and it is precisely this hardship that has given her wisdom and confidence far beyond other women of her age, making her ever more steadfast on the road out of poverty toward prosperity.
Speaking of life over the years, Jiao Xiaomei felt a great deal: "In the past, for many reasons, our family always lived frugally, and life was very hard. I wanted to change our situation but was frustrated by having no connections and no capital. But I have a stubborn streak that refuses to give in. I just would not believe that we could not escape poverty and become better off. Women in our township can build careers too, and can hold up half the sky."
After much exploration, Jiao Xiaomei felt she still had to base herself on local realities and rely on the available advantageous resources to develop an industry. In the end, Polyporus umbellatus became her best choice on the road to prosperity.
Because Dangchuan Township has a high forest coverage rate and a climate suitable for the growth of Chinese medicinal herbs, the area is rich in wild Polyporus umbellatus, Codonopsis pilosula, Angelica sinensis, Gastrodia elata, Bupleurum chinense, Astragalus membranaceus and other Chinese medicinal herb resources. In recent years, Dangchuan Township has treated Polyporus umbellatus cultivation as a pillar industry for increasing people's incomes, with a cumulative total of 80,000 beds planted, covering an area of 80,000 sq m and involving 316 farming households.
With so many people cultivating Polyporus umbellatus, the area had no local supply of the Armillaria mushrooms needed for its cultivation; they were generally bought from Liuba in Shaanxi, which was inconvenient and raised costs. Jiao Xiaomei spotted this business opportunity. After repeated exploration, study and experimentation, she finally succeeded in cultivating Armillaria mushrooms last year. For the first time she had her own income-generating venture; although the income was only a little over 10,000 yuan, it made her even more determined in her dream of prospering through Armillaria mushrooms.
The road of entrepreneurship is always hard, especially for a rural woman like Jiao Xiaomei with no family fortune to fall back on; every step has been bumpy. When wronged, she held it in; when facing difficulties, she held on. Without experiencing wind and rain, how can one see the rainbow? And so Jiao Xiaomei finally saw the dawn.
Riding the east wind of this year's targeted poverty alleviation, Jiao Xiaomei applied for a special loan of 50,000 yuan and, together with others, jointly established the Hengmei Chinese Medicinal Herbs Farmers' Cooperative, solving the problem of startup capital. With funding secured, what about technology? Organized by the district agriculture bureau, she traveled elsewhere to inspect and study Armillaria mushroom cultivation techniques, and in her own township she attended many training sessions on Chinese medicinal herb cultivation organized by agricultural technology departments. She now had full confidence in the technology. With the opportunity identified, the funds raised and the technology mastered, all that remained was to go all out.
"This year I originally planned to cultivate 100,000 bottles of Armillaria mushrooms, but because fundraising and preparing materials and other early-stage work took too long, there was not enough time, so I could only do 50,000 bottles. At present 5,000 bottles have been filled, and inoculation can begin very soon. This year I will get everything running smoothly, and next year I can expand the scale. Then I will add both the cultivation and purchasing of medicinal herbs, and a complete industry chain can take shape." Speaking of the current production situation and future development, Jiao Xiaomei was full of confidence.
Her own venture has only just begun, but Jiao Xiaomei has not forgotten the other poor villagers around her: "When things develop in the future, I want to bring more villagers into my cooperative. I suffered too much when I was poor, so I hope everyone around me can live a good life. For now I can only make things easier for the villagers in terms of hiring, so they can earn a little more income." Beneath these plain words shines a kind and brave heart.
Effort always brings rewards. The reporter believes that as long as Jiao Xiaomei steadfastly persists in her dream, she will surely walk out a broad road out of poverty toward prosperity. At the same time, the reporter also looks forward to Jiao Xiaomei's business growing ever larger and leading more people to prosperity together.