Peasant girls' road to wealth from Gastrodia elata

Living deep in the mountains, unable to surf the Internet, reaching the age of 40. In a group in Youfang Village, Zhaowan Township, Gucheng County, such an ordinary middle-aged peasant girl learned to grow wild Gastrodia elata and earned several thousand yuan on her first trial, which is a good story among the villagers in the remote Zhaowan Township.

In the early morning of July 7, 40-year-old Liu Xiaojun chopped up the fungus of Gastrodia elata and planned to plant wild Gastrodia elata seeds on the mountain. "Last year, only 3% of the land was planted on a trial basis, and several thousand yuan was earned." Liu Xiaojun said that this year she will expand the planting area of Gastrodia elata to one mu of land, which is expected to increase her income by nearly 50,000 yuan.

Sixteen years ago, Liu Xiaojun, a girl from Neijiang, Sichuan Province, met her husband when she was working in Henan Province and followed him to Zhaowan Township. "the road is impassable and the conditions at home are not good." Liu Xiaojun said that my husband's family has only four mu of thin farmland, only one season of grain a year, and the harvest is only enough for his own use. After marriage, Liu Xiaojun gave birth to two daughters. in order to take care of the children, her husband continued to go out to work, and her parents-in-law went around to do odd jobs to support the family, but she kept a snack bar to make ends meet.

Zhaowan Township is located in the alpine mountain area of northwest Hubei, which is very suitable for the growth of Gastrodia elata, a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. A few years ago, the price of dried Gastrodia elata has been sold to more than 100 yuan per jin, many Zhaowan people go up the mountain to dig wild Gastrodia elata and sell it to non-local traffickers. Liu Xiaojun said that the natural fecundity of Gastrodia elata is very low, and there is not much wild Gastrodia elata in Zhaowan due to disorderly digging.

In 2014, when Liu Xiaojun was restocking for the commissary, he heard on the bus that someone in Shiyan specially taught people to grow Gastrodia elata. "Zhaowan has such good resources, why don't I learn the technology and plant Gastrodia elata at home to support my family?" Liu Xiaojun asked someone to inquire about the relevant situation on the Internet when he got home, and then consulted the plantation in Shiyan by telephone. In April of that year, Liu Xiaojun, carrying 5000 yuan, went to Shiyan alone to learn the planting techniques of Gastrodia elata. "pollination in spring, fruit harvest in June, and planting in the field a week later. In the first month of the second year, we will be able to harvest Gastrodia elata in autumn. " Liu Xiaojun said that in the plantation in Shiyan, she helped people work for free to learn skills, and it took only a week to master the planting skills of Gastrodia elata.

Liu Xiaojun then bought germinating bacteria and Armillaria mellea in the plantation, and picked wild Gastrodia elata from the mountains for pollination, fruit collection and introduction. Last autumn, Liu Xiaojun's trial cultivation of 3% of wild Gastrodia elata was a great success, and more than 400 jin of fresh products were sold out at a price of 80 to 130 yuan. Liu Xiaojun said that the seeds of Gastrodia elata are smaller than sand, so pollination and collection must be windproof, otherwise the yield will be affected. In addition, in the process of growth, the moisture of the land should be controlled and the land should not be made too wet.

The reporter and the staff of the Municipal Poverty Alleviation Office followed Liu Xiaojun to the planting ground of Gastrodia elata. In the dense forest, only the traces of reclamation left by planting can be seen. Liu Xiaojun said that Gastrodia elata is still growing underground, and there is no harvest until September this year. At present, she is taking advantage of her spare time to sign up to learn network technology, and in the future she also hopes to sell this wild Gastrodia elata to all parts of the country through the Internet. "capable people like this who develop local industries by learning foreign technology should be promoted throughout the city." Chen Yuquan, director of the Municipal Poverty Alleviation Office, said that this model relies on local climate, soil and other natural conditions, has the advantages of quick effect and easy replication, and has high promotion value in industrial poverty alleviation. In addition, this way can promote the participation of the surrounding poor people, and eventually form their own industries and brands, which will help people in need to get out of poverty more quickly.