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Millions of Farmers Benefiting from Growing Mushrooms
Millions of Chinese farmers in over 320 counties have escaped poverty thanks to their use of a mushroom-growing technique over the past decade.
According to Wang Yuzhao, director of the China Poverty-Relief Foundation, these farmers have created an output value totaling 10 billion yuan from growing mushrooms, making mushroom-growing a pillar industry in the country's aid-the-poor project.
The technique, which was developed in the early 1990s by Lin Zhanxi, a professor at Fujian Agricultural University, uses weeds and straw in the cultivation process.
The method reduces production cost and saves forest resources compared with traditional methods of mushroom-growing.
So far, the technique has been spread to 320 counties in 32 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
According to the professor, China can increase mushroom output by 40 million tons and output value by 224 billion yuan by using one-third of the country's 400 million ha of grassland and five percent of the country's 300 million tons of straw. This also can provide job opportunities for 20 million people.
Meanwhile, the professor said, the technique can also help improve the ecological environment.
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