After hardship comes sweetness: a former poor household wants to help his fellow villagers get rich together

Zhang Chuanming is observing the growth of mushrooms.

Zhang Chuanming is a villager of Tangwan Village, Shuanghekou Town, Banan District. Three years ago, he was still a registered poor household. Relying on self-reliance, he not only successfully escaped poverty, but also became the village's major mushroom grower, with an annual income reaching 200,000 yuan. Recently, Zhang Chuanming told reporters that he will expand the planting scale and help his fellow villagers escape poverty and get rich together.

In the past, Zhang Chuanming and his wife worked at a motorcycle parts factory in Qingmuguan Town, Shapingba District. A few years ago, his mother-in-law fell ill with cardiovascular disease and was bedridden, his wife suffered from facial paralysis and lumbar disc herniation, and the factory's profits declined. A series of blows left the family utterly impoverished, and he, who already had two children, entered the ranks of registered poor households.

After resigning from the factory, Zhang Chuanming returned to his old trade - farming. But the natural conditions in his hometown allowed only corn and sweet potatoes to be grown, with poor returns. After investigation, he found that the village had all the materials needed for growing mushrooms, including corn cobs, cornmeal, wheat bran, oil cakes, and lime, so he quickly "switched trades" and borrowed money to start growing mushrooms.

At the beginning, due to inadequate experience and technology, Zhang Chuanming suffered heavy losses. "There were two painful experiences." He recalled that the first was 3 years ago, when nearly 10,000 mushroom bags were lost because the bags were not thoroughly sterilized in the high-temperature stove room; the second was last year, when 12,000 mushroom bags rotted because the workers' inoculation and disinfection were not strict. The losses were both above 100,000 yuan.

After going through hardships and struggles, the situation gradually improved. At present, Zhang Chuanming's mushroom production scale has reached 5 mu, with nearly 50,000 mushroom bags planted, and he has already earned more than 100,000 yuan; it is expected that by the end of the year, the income can reach 200,000 yuan. He also thereby took off the "poverty cap."

Recently, Zhang Chuanming received good news again: in order to remove the "cap" of Tangwan Village as a municipal-level poor village, Shuanghekou Town decided to help him build a 10-mu plastic-steel structure mushroom house and a cold storage, so as to expand the production scale and help more people escape poverty and get rich.

"Building a 10-mu mushroom house costs more than 100,000 yuan, and building a cold storage costs 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. This is something I never dared to imagine before." Zhang Chuanming looked forward to the future. "In this way, I can plant 100,000 more mushroom bags a year and increase income by 500,000 yuan; then I can recycle the mushroom bag waste and use it as base fertilizer for vegetables to expand the vegetable planting area; with the cold storage, I won't have to work so hard, and I can pick mushrooms and transport goods during the day..."

Zhang Chuanming said he will give priority to employing 30 registered poor households, teach mushroom-growing techniques free of charge, and use his own sales channels to help fellow villagers who are willing to start businesses, so that they can escape poverty and get rich together.