“About 10,000 mushroom sticks are placed in one mu (0.067 hectares) of rice field, and 100 g dried black fungi can be harvested from each stick, which can be sold for about 10 yuan.”
Xiang Yiping, head of Hunan Sixiang Agricultural Technology Company, said that in 2023, the base planted 600,000 sticks of black fungus, with 60,000 kg of dried fungi and a production value of 4.5 million yuan.
This autumn, the base expanded the planting area and planted 750,000 sticks of fungus, with an expected dried fungus yield of 75,000 kg. Now, over 4,000 kg of dried fungi harvested by the base have been sent to customers.
“Most of customers come from Shanghai city, Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province and Anhui province. Buyers said that our company’s black fungi have high quality.” Xiang Yiping said that the company has registered its own brand, Xiangxi Black Fungus.
Xiaozhang Township in Luxi County, located in the Wuling Mountain area, has over 95% of its population engaged in agriculture. Xiang Yiping discovered in Zhejiang province that his friends around him who were engaged in agriculture made great success. He thought that there is a large amount of idle land in his hometown every autumn and winter, which has great potential for planting black fungus.
In October 2021, he decided to return to hometown to start a business.
Xiang Yiping invited technical personnel from Zhejiang province to make field visits. Dashuiping village is located at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, with a large temperature difference between day and night and a high forest vegetation coverage, making it suitable for cultivating black fungus.
Xiang Yiping set up a team to transfer the land after autumn harvesting in the village, and used the idle labors in the village to plant black fungus.
In the autumn of 2021, Hunan Sixiang Agricultural Technology Company was established by Xiang Yiping, with an operation mode of “company plus base plus farmers.
He built a base in Dashuiping village to plant black fungus according to local conditions.
Driven by Xiang Yiping, rows of standardized steel mushroom greenhouses have sprung up. In 2022, more than 500,000 sticks of black fungus were planted in Dashuiping village, generating income of over 2 million yuan and helping nearby villagers to increase income by over 600,000 yuan.
At the beginning of this year, the company has introduced an automatic production line for mushroom sticks. Two production lines have been busy making mushroom sticks.
In September, after the rice harvest, all mushroom sticks will be planted in rice fields, and the picking of fungus will end in April next year, with a large amount of labor.
The cultivation of black fungus has helped increase income for 800 villagers in the surrounding area.
This year, the base employs more than 100 people every day, with wages of over 1 million yuan paid.
“It’s important to dry these fresh black fungi in good weather.” Xiang Yiping added that after harvesting, the mushroom sticks should be turned over and exposed to sunlight, letting them to develop normally.
The rotation of black fungus and rice planting greatly improves land utilization and efficiency. The company has established a benefit linkage system to bring interests to both enterprises and farmers.
After three years of construction, a full industrial chain production base integrating R&D of fungus strains, production of mushroom sticks, planting, packaging and sales, technical training and recycling of waste mushroom sticks has begun to take shape.
The black fungus planting in Xiaozhang township has radiated to over 10 towns and villages in the county, helping farmers increase income. The industrial chain has gradually formed a complete system integrating planting, packaging, logistics and sales, becoming one of the pillar industries to promote local rural revitalization.
Chinese source: hunantoday
