Nixi Town, located in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, has the highest percentage of forest coverage in Yunyang County yet also is known for poverty. Party members in the county had long been afflicted with the inability to help villagers shake off poverty.

Nixi Town of Yunyang County boasts specialty fungi – the black fungus is crisp and refreshing, and the shiitake mushroom savory and mellow. The two are the magic key to Nixi Town in overcoming poverty.

Nixi Town has achieved high efficiency in mountain farming based on its local conditions. Last year, it produced 80,000kg of 500,000 pieces of black fungus, increasing the incomes for 1,748 people from 466 impoverished households, and 400,000 bags of shiitake mushrooms to alleviate poverty for 65 such households.

The well-known black delicacies have been cultivated for generations, yet generating poor economic benefits.

Before 2016, only 6 of the ten villages in Nixi Town had hardened roads, indicating their poor and remote geographical positions. The underdeveloped transportation infrastructure was a serious constraint to the industry. In August 2017, Nixi Town was listed as one of the 18 highly poverty-stricken townships/towns in the city.

To remove poverty as soon as possible, the government of Nixi Town decided to grow industries to help poverty relief while developing transportation. It diverted its attention to spotted laurel, a local variety. The altitude and climate of Nixi Town are conducive to the growth of fungi. Local farmers have long grown black fungus on the linden of spotted laurel. The black fungus cultivated in this way are crisp with a high nutritional value, and the dried ones emanate a certain fragrance valuing more than double of the common edible mushrooms.

In addition to black fungus, the spotted laurel also has a unique contribution to another kind of fungi – the shiitake mushrooms grown on the bits of such a plant are particularly aromatic. They are harvested once a year, which means a quick return.

It occurred to the Party members in the town and those sent here for poverty alleviation that Nixi Town can rely on its rich ecological resources. Why not come up with a plan to make good use of the existing resources?

It was found based on the investigation that black and pollution-free farm products are trendy in today’s market, and black fungus and shiitake mushrooms see a broad prospect both as food and medicine. Therefore, the government of Nixi Town has decided to take advantage of local conditions and resorted to the “black” ecological industry with low investment, quick return, and low labor intensity as the leading force for poverty alleviation. Therefore, they encouraged farmers to cultivate black fungus and shiitake mushrooms in large areas.

Following the laws of nature, Nixi Town has embarked on an ecological road benefitting from plants.

New production methods introduced to create incomes for farmers even at home.

Changes in production methods bring more benefits to Nixi Town.

In the second half of 2017, Nixi Town conducted a pilot project in the Tonglin community by introducing the professional cooperative and training technicians in fungus cultivation. Black fungus has been grown on a large scale under the village-based collective companies, which adopt the technician accountability system. Villagers are encouraged to buy shares, and members from the impoverished households can work for the companies to make money.

In 2018, Nixi Town produced 200,000 pieces of black fungus, each piece equivalent to 125g of dried black fungus. The unit price reached 160 to 240 yuan per kilogram, and the annual output valued about 5 million yuan. More than 350 households, including 30 impoverished ones, in the town, joined the cooperative. More than 80 people from the impoverished households worked in the cooperative, and the household earned an additional income of 4,500 yuan on average. Each household got over 800 yuan as the first bonus was shared out.

The spotted laurel plants bedecked with plump black fungus are seen everywhere at harvest time in Nixi Town. Almost every household has planted fungi. A total of 1,748 people from 466 impoverished households have been lifted out of poverty.