‘Magic’ mushrooms

Farmers in China are having fun with fungus – as the humble mushroom provides a vital source of income for poverty-hit villagers.

A £700,000 project to provide more than 5,000 farmers with small business, or microfinance, loans by NGO Plan International has been hailed a success.

The loans have helped farmers in impoverished Xi Xiang, Shaanxi province, central China, grow organic Chinese Black Mushrooms which they sell as food at local markets.

Plan UK’s Marie Staunton says: "This is a magnificent project to help farmers in some of the world’s poorest areas lift themselves out of poverty."

For 54-year-old Zhu Yuping, the project has not only boosted her income but may lead to her family being reunited.

So destitute was the mother-of-two’s family, that 51-year-old husband Fu Daoju and their two teenage daughters left home to find work in the nearby city of Shen Zhen.

But this all too familiar tale of forced migration in rural China is leading to a happy conclusion for villagers in Plan’s project.

"Loans provided by the Plan China microfinance programme have few procedures, which creates little pressure for villagers," says Zhu.

"We can pay back in instalments and the interest rate is low," she adds.

Four loans of about £100 each later, and Zhu has a profitable business growing healthy Chinese Black Mushrooms - empowering her and others like her.

The much sought after mushrooms are used in a host of Chinese dishes, including soups, and are high in protein and vitamins, lowering cholesterol and booting the immune system.

"With the loan and training from Plan China’s microfinance programme, the financial status of the women in my village has been improved," she says. "Next, I will breed chickens and ducks."

And of the future for her family, Zhu enthuses: "I will ask my husband and daughters to come back. We will build a beautiful house."