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CHIN XIX |
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A Pleasant Surprise: The Mushroom Rise |
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| Abstract |
Innovator’s profile by Dr. Liyan Zhang Tianjin, University of Finance and Economics (TUFE), Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation studies and Dr. Bin Wu, University of Nottingham, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies. |
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Mushroom production is on the rise in China for the last ten years. In 2005, the country produced about 13 million tonnes of mushrooms1 which rose to 32 million tonnes by 20152 . Initially, cottonseed hulls were used as a substrate for oyster mushroom production making the setup expensive. An innovative mushroom farmer, Gao Dedian sought to reduce the cost of cultivating oyster mushrooms. By using straw as a substrate and other low cost techniques, he recreated natural conditions conducive for oyster mushroom cultivation which, in turn, led to a whole lot of secondary innovations. The beginning Gao was born in 1956 in a small village in Hubei province. He shifted to Hongyun village in Changde City, Hunan Province about 30 years ago when he married a girl from the village. The people in Hongyun were very kind to Gao and helped him a lot. He was grateful and dreamed that one day he could help the poor villagers and improve his family’s standard of living. Gao did whatever he could to earn a living. After his graduation from high school, he worked as a mason and carpenter and also pulled handcart for three years. Gao often went to the nearby Changde library to read newspaper and magazines to seek business opportunities.In the early 1980s, he built the first pepper green house in his village. He was quite successful in the venture. He shared his knowledge with others in the village. This led to spread of greenhouse pepper production throughout the village. He also had a brief stint with bean sprout propagation, before stumbling onto an article about the economic potential of growing oyster mushrooms. He realised that the vicinity of his village to Changde downtown which was the nearest commercial centre, made growing and selling of mushrooms quite economically viable. After getting training from the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Gao started trying to grow edible mushrooms.Initial ChallengesCottonseed hull, the raw material for mushroom production was expensive. Moreover, the production of mushrooms requires the sterilization of these hulls. The mushroom inoculation is then done in a sterilization box, which Gao could not afford. Gao had to find a cheaper raw material. Changde produces a large quantity of rice and straw is available abundantly. (Changde is a part of Shanlonggang archeological site where carbonised rice samples dating back to more than 8000 years were excavated, making it a probable cradle of rice cultivation: Ed)3. Wild mushrooms grow in the nearby mountains, which happen to be very popular amongst local villagers. Gao found wild mushrooms to be tastier than the ones produced using cottonseed hulls. One day, Gao found many edible mushrooms around the base of a rotten tree. He realised that crop waste and weeds could provide the nutrition for the mushrooms to grow. Gao started experimenting with straw for cultivation of mushroom. Even after several failures and having being told by the agricultural experts that mushrooms cannot be grown on straw, he continued to experiment. Their family was now only surviving on the meagre earnings of his wife’s shoeshine work. He had to face criticism and taunts from his friends who would often say that he was attempting to do something that even the scientists could not. He borrowed from friends and when even that ran out, he sold three houses, and developed his 4.5 acres of land as a base for experimentation on growing mushrooms. At the edge of this land, he built a small shack where he and his family lived. The taste of successAfter months of unsuccessful efforts, one fine day, the rains brought along some serendipitous insight. It caused some humus rich soil to rush into the mushroom farm. The humus ended up covering the straw that lay under a plastic film. This led to the growth of good quality mushrooms that tasted like the wild mushrooms. Gao realised that soil humus provide the right micronutrients for mushroom growth. This technique gave Gao about 1125 kg of oyster mushroom from an acre of the field. Further innovations in mushroom cultivationHe did not stop there. He then moved to improvise the raw material and the production process. For sterilisation, Gao invented a low cost multifunctional steam generator. For growing needle mushrooms, he replaced plastic bags with wooden boxes. Gao replaced chemical pesticides used in mushroom cultivation with insecticide nutrient solution whose main components were salt, plant ash and tea seed cake. This new pesticide was not only environmentally friendly and low cost, but also promoted the growth of mushrooms and killed insects. Gao now uses various straw and stalks including rapeseed, wheat straw, and corn stalks, to replace cottonseed hull in mushroom production in order to reduce cost. He also does experiments and research on mushroom growing technology.Giving back to the societyGao is often invited to government sponsored trainings as an expert to train mushroom production technology. In about two decades since he ventured into Straw Mushroom Cultivation (SMC), Gao had established a name for himself. After several collaborations and workshops with local governments, in 2008, he was appointed as the vice president of the Mushroom Production Association set up by the Changde Municipal Government. His role was to advise the municipal government on large scale mushroom production and the diffusion of SMC across all counties within the municipality4. In 2012, the Dingcheng Science and Technology Bureau appointed him as a special Science and Technology commissioner to Huayanxi Vegetable Cooperative. In 2013, He was appointed as a special Science and Technology commissioner for Changde City. In his various roles, with he promoted low cost technologies to mushroom farmers in the region so that they too can get the benefits of his innovations. Gao’s journey is not only that remarkable determination and ingenuity, but also that of gratitude and willingness to pay back to the society.1 Material for The 5th Member (Representative) Congress of China Edible Fungi Association, provided by Gao Dedian2 https://issuu.com/chinaediblemushroombusinessnet/docs/mushroom_times_no.5__20153 https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.in/2011/11/chinas-hunan-may-be-birthplace-of.html |
