Shiitake Mushroom Entrepreneurship Story: Small Shiitake Mushrooms Support a Big Dream

Chang Ali is inspecting the quality of shiitake mushrooms.

Chang Ali is guiding mushroom farmers in managing shiitake mushrooms.

Members of the cooperative are sorting shiitake mushroom stems.

Chang Ali is from Xiaguan Town, Neixiang County. At the age of 18, he went south to work as a migrant worker, and his experience working at Shuanghui in 2008 changed the course of his life. Later, Chang Ali quit his job and returned to his hometown to start growing bag-cultivated shiitake mushrooms.

The good growing environment and solid technical skills enabled Chang Ali's shiitake mushrooms to successfully enter Shuanghui's procurement system. However, one person's growing capacity is limited after all. In order to let more fellow villagers benefit, Chang Ali established a professional cooperative in 2010, providing raw materials and growing techniques to fellow villagers for free, and purchasing members' shiitake mushrooms at a price 5% higher than the market price. He also promoted the hometown's shiitake mushrooms and other local specialties through the Internet, and cooperated with Alibaba to vigorously develop e-commerce business.

At present, the cooperative has more than 1,200 member households, and this year's sales are expected to exceed 60 million yuan, making it the county's "shiitake mushroom sales champion" and being listed by well-known domestic enterprises such as Shuanghui, Synear, and KFC as a strategic supply partner.