Black fungus cultivation enriches farmers in Jilin

An aerial view of greenhouses for cultivating black fungus in Lixin village, northeast China’s Jilin province [Photo: China Plus]

As part of a broader campaign to pull everyone in China above the poverty line by 2020, authorities in Jilin are helping farmers there grow an unusual but potentially lucrative cash crop.

CRI's Min Rui has more.

Many dishes served in Chinese restaurants often include an edible black fungus.

"Mu'er," or "Wood Ear" has been part of Chinese cooking since the 6th century. It derives its name from the 'ear-like' structure the fungus takes on as it becomes mature.

Among the different kinds of fungi available in Chinese markets, the ones grown on Changbai Mountain in Jilin are among the most favored.

Anticipating the market's needs, officials in the village of Lixin, located next to Changbai Mountain, are now helping local farmers tap the potential from their unique environmental resource.

Currently, around 95 percent of the villagers in Lixin grow rice as their main source of income.

However, as mountainous area is not environmentally-conducive to growing rice, local officials are now looking at other ways to reduce poverty among farmers in the region.

Song Zhiming with Gashigen County says they saw what locals in a nearby country were doing, and decided to try to capitalize on the idea themselves.

He says the government has partnered up with a local company to establish a fungi cultivation base in Lixin, and says the results have been promising so far.

"With the experience we learnt so far, we think "Wood Ear" fungus is going to generate profits of between 10 to 15-thousand yuan per hundred square meters. So on average, each household in this village has 200 square meters of farming land. If they grow the fungus, the revenues can probably hit 20 thousand yuan. If we promote this well, I think it could be a sunshine industry here, and help a lot of poor farmers, and perhaps even make them well-off in the near future."

8 fungi grow houses were set up in Lixin late last year.

Many are now developing the fungi cultivation skills and knowledge they need to start up their own operation.

Chen Yumei is one of those who hope to cash-in on fungus.

"I do have farm land, but my income is not stable. So I came here to work as a temporary worker. I've earned around 2-thousand yuan here. If I work here for a whole day, I can get 100 kuai, 10 kuai per hour."

Lixin village currently has around 600 villagers, with 82 of them living under the national poverty line.

To try to change this, the local government plans to help the local farmers sell their fungi after harvest, thus establishing a new business pattern into the local economy.

For CRI, I'm Min Rui.