Getting to know Huang Shichun, a major black fungus grower
He has a unique entrepreneurial philosophy and a spirit of endurance through hardship. He has devoted himself to exploring the path of a circular economy. He is the leader in developing new industries and achieving prosperity through science and technology in the county. He is Huang Shichun, a villager of Miaoshi Village, Weiping Town.
Huang Shichun, 43 years old this year, has relied on his pursuit of and dedication to scientific and technological innovation over the past few years, cultivating black fungus with mulberry branches and embarking on a good path to prosperity. He also uses his own techniques to lead other farmers to prosper together.
In 2006, Huang Shichun actively responded to the call of the Weiping Town Party Committee and Government regarding the development of a resource-utilizing circular economy. Through learning and investigation from various sources, he determined that cultivating black fungus with mulberry branches would certainly be profitable. Once he made up his mind, Huang Shichun acted immediately, purchasing more than 100,000 jin of mulberry branches from surrounding farmers and developing more than 70,000 bags of black fungus. He attended every session of the black fungus production technology training classes held by the town. He neatly recorded in a notebook every key point the training teachers mentioned, and he also consulted the teachers about technical problems he encountered in the process of cultivating black fungus. In this way, with that earnestness, Huang Shichun learned while practicing. Hard work pays off. Through a year of effort, he fully mastered the technique of cultivating black fungus with mulberry branches, and in the first year the black fungus cultivated with mulberry branches was recognized by the market, with many customers coming to his door to buy it.
By 2007, Huang Shichun's technique of cultivating black fungus with mulberry branches had become increasingly mature. The black fungus he cultivated had higher yields and better quality. From the more than 70,000 bags of black fungus cultivated, he produced 7,200 jin of dried fungus, with an output value of more than 200,000, and a net income of more than 100,000. By this year, black fungus cultivation with mulberry branches had expanded to 200,000 bags, with an estimated output of 24,000 jin of fungus and an output value of more than 700,000.
"A single flower does not make spring; a hundred flowers blooming together fill the garden with spring." Huang Shichun, who became prosperous by cultivating black fungus with mulberry branches, hopes to use the techniques he has mastered to drive surrounding farmers to prosper together. Some farmers did not dare to develop black fungus for fear of low returns, so Huang Shichun counted on his fingers and did the accounts for them: if one farming household uses the winter slack season to cultivate 10,000 bags of black fungus, and earns 1 yuan of profit per bag, then in one year it would add 10,000 yuan in income. Adding the income from sericulture, without leaving the village, a household could have an income of 20,000 yuan a year. Given that the black fungus cultivation industry using mulberry branches has high technical requirements, and some farmers with low education levels find it difficult to master the cultivation techniques, Huang Shichun used the time after the summer silkworm season ended to raise funds and purchase more than 500,000 jin of mulberry branches, developing more than 200,000 bags of black fungus. He distributed some of the inoculated fungus sticks to villagers for cultivation for a fee, provided technical guidance free of charge, bought back the black fungus on a fixed basis, and sold it uniformly. In this way, he boosted other farmers' enthusiasm for cultivating black fungus.
However, Huang Shichun, who loves to use his head, was not satisfied with the achievements he had made in cultivating black fungus. Next, he also wanted to explore using spent mulberry fungus sticks returned to the fields as fertilizer to plant rice and soybeans; using spent mulberry fungus sticks to produce biogas; and using the black fungus cultivation industry to drive agritourism, so as to improve the comprehensive benefits of this production activity.