Mazhan Town, Cangnan County, Zhejiang Province has a national gold card of "hometown of Chinese mushrooms". However, the development of this industry in the local area is not balanced. During the interview, the reporter found two villages with different mushroom industries.
Zhongkui Village: the traditional way makes the industry shrink
Lin Yanxia was wearing rubber shoes and a dirty old dress. She was turning a pile of straw in front of her with a fork.
These straws are the nourishment for cultivating mushrooms. Because of the fermentation treatment, even standing more than ten meters away, you can still smell the pungent smell, but Lin Yanxia has been in "close contact" with this pile of straws all day.
In Zhongkui village, where Lin Yanxia is located, there were more than 20 mushroom specialized households during the peak period of the local mushroom industry. "In the 1990s, mushrooms were basically sold to big cities such as Shanghai, and some were directly sold abroad." Lin Yanxia said.
However, in recent years, this prosperous industry has been shrinking year by year. Taking Zhongkui village as an example, there were more than 20 households in those years, and now there are only five households such as Lin Yanxia. Those former mushroom households have changed to other crops or simply left the planting industry to work.
Affected by the temperature, the autumn and winter of each year is the season for cultivating mushrooms. Although the time is short, the income in recent years is not low. "Last year, each kilogram of mushrooms could be sold for 5 to 10 yuan, and a mushroom shed could earn more than 20000 yuan in four months." Lin Yanxia said.
However, the traditional cultivation method, even as an old mushroom farmer for more than 20 years, still feels dirty and tired. For example, in the "turning" mentioned above, the straw used in a mushroom shed needs to be turned seven times and remade the next year. The traditional low-cost straw mushroom shed will basically collapse in case of strong storm and rain.
Lin Yanxia said that the old mushroom farmers can't do it, but the young men don't want to do it. Cangnan is vulnerable to typhoons. If it happens, there will be basically no harvest in that year. The dual pressure of high physical labor and high risk has led many locals to leave the industry.
Qipan Village: new facilities bring new prospects
In Qipan village, not far from Zhongkui village, the author saw another scene: rows of new steel structure mushroom sheds and specially built fermentation houses.
The reporter met Zhu Bangguo, 65, an old mushroom farmer in Qipan village. Since last year, he and many mushroom farmers in the village have invested in the construction of steel mushroom sheds and used mechanical equipment to ferment straw. He said that there were rows of holes under the fermented house. The fermented rice straw was stacked in the house through the dumper and then blown into the air by the blower, instead of the traditional manual turnover. The mushroom shed with steel structure could withstand the heavy storm and rain. The walls inside the mushroom shed were also provided with foam material and insulation layer made of tin foil.
Zhu Zhongrong, director of Qipan village, said that 80 new mushroom sheds have been built in the village this year. Although a cost will cost more than 20000 yuan, compared with the traditional mushroom sheds, the temperature in the new mushroom sheds is 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher in autumn and winter, which prolongs the harvest period and can last up to 10 years. In order to build a new mushroom shed and fermentation house, the local government invested about 2.37 million yuan, and also purchased grass cutter, forklift, dumper and other equipment.
This year is the first year of the large-scale opening of the new mushroom shed in Qipan village. We can see the look of expectation from the faces of many local mushroom farmers. For the declining mushroom industry, Qipan village seems to be looking for an opportunity to flourish again.