By Chen Shuang; Contributor Chen Mengxue

Warm spring breezes bring warmth, and the fragrance of mushrooms fills the fields. At present, in the fields of Wolong Town and Oumiao Town in Xiangcheng District, rows of standardized mushroom sheds stand neatly, where tender morel mushrooms are pushing through the soil, ushering in the peak harvest season. Farmers are busy picking, sorting and loading the harvest, painting a vivid picture of bustling activity. Shuttling between villages and cultivation bases, the dedicated shuttle service for morel mushroom workers has become a key link that unlocks local employment for residents and bridges the “last mile” of industrial services.

On the evening of March 19, villagers who had worked hard all day, filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest, walked out of the mushroom sheds one after another. Along the field ridges in Xueliang Village of Wolong Town, a bus had already arrived and waited quietly with its doors open. This free point-to-point shuttle service, operating round-trip on a fixed daily schedule rain or shine, connects villagers’ doorsteps on one end and morel mushroom cultivation bases on the other. It not only addresses the transportation challenges for residents traveling to work, but also consolidates labor security for the development of the industry, serving as a vivid example of how Xiangcheng District empowers its characteristic industries through livelihood services.

It is reported that Wolong Town and Oumiao Town are adjacent to the Han River. The sandy soil in the riverside areas is loose, breathable and well-drained, providing excellent conditions for morel mushroom cultivation. In recent years, the local government has based itself on its resource endowments and pooled efforts to develop the characteristic morel mushroom industry. At present, the cultivation area of the whole district has reached nearly 15,000 mu, and a cultivation scale of 5,000 mu has been formed alone in Yuanxiang Village and Xueliang Village of Wolong Town. The industry’s scale continues to expand and its influence is steadily enhanced.

Every spring when the morel mushroom harvest season arrives, the labor demand at the cultivation bases surges significantly. While the industry needs to seize the precious farming window, local residents are eager to find employment close to home. To address this, Xiangcheng District has taken proactive action, coordinated relevant departments and accurately aligned industrial labor demand with residents’ employment needs. It launched the point-to-point worker shuttle service to provide a seamless one-stop service of “leaving home, boarding the bus and entering the base”, thus achieving a win-win outcome where the industry develops and residents’ incomes rise.

“Now that the industries in our village are booming, we can work right at our doorstep. The daily wage ranges from RMB 150 to RMB 200, and we can earn a substantial income over a single harvest season, without taking time away from taking care of our families,” said Wang Yanlin, a resident of Wolong Town who was busy working in the mushroom shed, with a smile.

As the scale of the local morel mushroom industry continues to expand, the local labor force alone can no longer fully meet the growing demand. To this end, Wolong Town and Oumiao Town have proactively extended their service coverage to Fancheng District, Dongjin New Area and the High-tech Zone, arranging special shuttle buses for free pick-up and drop-off, and the cultivation bases provide free lunch for workers. By widely attracting surplus labor from surrounding areas, the program not only eliminates the transportation troubles for cross-district workers, but also ensures stable and efficient labor support for the morel mushroom industry.

To put in place a long-term mechanism, Wolong Town and Oumiao Town have dynamically tracked and aligned with the labor needs of large-scale growers this year. Village Party Branches release real-time information on mushroom shed jobs, and accurately connect surplus rural labor with employment opportunities at the mushroom sheds, thus ensuring residents have work when they are free and the bases have enough labor when they need it.

Small mushrooms, big industry. According to the Xiangcheng District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the district’s morel mushroom industry has driven 150,000 person-times of employment, generating an annual labor income of over RMB 20 million, with an estimated annual output value exceeding RMB 200 million. This year, the district also plans to add an additional 5,000 mu of morel mushroom cultivation area on the existing basis, plan and build three 10,000-mu level morel industrial zones across the district, and construct 12 standardized morel mushroom drying workshops. It will invest in the construction of the “Hanjiang Mushroom Valley Morel Trading Center” in Wolong Town. After its completion in 2027, the annual trading volume of morel mushrooms is expected to exceed 5,000 tons, which will further extend the morel mushroom industrial chain both in depth and in breadth.