When farmers grow wild mushrooms, they can take them directly to processing plants to sell them as wild mushroom sauce. Wouldn't that be more profitable than selling fresh mushrooms?
After all, fresh wild mushrooms are only most valuable for ten days to half a month a year, but if they are made into sauce, they can be sold all year round with little price fluctuation. It is a long-term business that is guaranteed to make money regardless of drought or flood.
The only concern is that the villagers don't know the technology and don't know how to grow wild mushrooms.
However, according to Lang Ying, the town is already trying to find a solution to this problem. Xiao Man has also visited Banligou and wants to learn from Banligou and try to cooperate with the research team of the Agricultural University to build their Langshan Village into a wild mushroom cultivation experimental base. In that case, professors and experts from the Agricultural University will come to provide guidance, which is more reliable than hiring technicians from outside.
"Then, how much would it cost to invest?" Yama Sakura finally became interested.
The two sons were like two mountains, suffocating the couple. The thought of preparing two wedding houses, two dowries, and two wedding banquets made Shanying feel dizzy. She really wanted to learn from the internet's memes and pretend to die on the spot...
But if the cooperative can really make money, even if it's just an extra 100,000 or 200,000 yuan a year, that's enough to support my son until he grows up and marries two wives.
“I asked Xiaoman about this. According to the current shareholder structure of the tea cooperative, Xiaoman and Shanyan each contributed 200,000 yuan.”
"Two hundred thousand?!" Shan Ying and Jiang Xiaohui both gasped in shock.
This amount far exceeds their family savings; it's hopeless...
"Don't rush, I haven't finished speaking yet. It's definitely not enough for one family to contribute 200,000. So I plan to find two more families. I'll contribute one, you two, Aying, and my sister-in-law's family. We'll contribute as much as we can. If it's still not enough, I'll bring Xiaoman and Xiaoyu in too!"
"Yes, yes! They're both rich, haha~" Yama-sakura was finally relieved to hear this.
Lang Ying's shareholder arrangement clearly shows that she's aiming to make money for her own people, and with Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu, two big spenders, backing them up, they feel more confident.
However, to the surprise of the two sisters, Shan Ying and Lang Ying, the actual investment in this cooperative under preparation was less than 100,000 yuan per household!
Chapter 214
When Jiang Xiaoman received the framework plan, she could hardly believe her eyes!
What? You're telling me that such a large cooperative, if it's a joint venture between three companies, would only require a little over 80,000 yuan per company?
"Based on current policies, 80,000 is more than enough, and we might not even need it."
Sun Zheyuan smiled smugly.
He's a professional at writing reports!
Jiang Xiaoman and the others only knew that after the project was completed, they could apply for subsidies such as tax breaks and land use subsidies. However, they did not know that some "hidden" welfare policies were not usually written down and had to be obtained by themselves.
Su Zheyuan's connections and information in this area are clearly far superior to those of Jiang Xiaoman and the others.
Moreover, during his years as a poverty alleviation cadre, he frequently came into contact with many excellent entrepreneurial projects for internal exchange and learning, and there were many successful cases that he could learn from.
"The reason why your tea cooperative has such high initial costs is mainly because a cold storage and a warehouse are expensive, but the wild mushroom cooperative doesn't need to spend money on these."
"As far as I know, if fresh mushrooms are not processed on the same day they are picked, their freshness will not be as good the next day. So I thought, why not just build a brick shed with ventilation on all four sides on the ground? This would be cheaper and more suitable for preserving fresh mushrooms."
"In that case, there's no need for cold storage, let alone warehouses. Just make it into wild mushroom sauce, and the storage will definitely be done in the processing plant's warehouse."
“A lot of money can be saved on infrastructure and land costs. As you said, we can sign planting contracts with farmers and use their own forests to grow wild mushrooms, so the land rental cost is almost zero.”
"Regarding the mushroom strains, I plan to apply to higher-level departments for special support policies under the guise of rural women's entrepreneurship, including a special two-year interest-free loan of up to 500,000 yuan from the credit union..."
"What? Five hundred thousand? Two years interest-free? Why couldn't we apply for it in the first place?"
Jiang Xiaoman jumped up in a flash.
Sun Zheyuan looked him up and down, which almost made Jiang Xiaoman uncomfortable, before slowly and deliberately retorting, "This is a targeted entrepreneurship benefit offered by the credit union to rural women left behind. Are you left behind, or are you a woman?"
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
Waaaaah~~ What happened to gender equality?
However, if we add in the discounts we can negotiate with the agricultural university for purchasing the microbial strains, it might actually be enough to keep the cooperative afloat with less than 100,000 yuan per person.
“I think you’re blinded by your own involvement,” Sun Zheyuan said with a smile. “Xiaoman, think about it carefully. When wild mushrooms are in season, a lot of people need to be hired to process the mushrooms and make the sauce. In addition, growers also need to hire people to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. One project can create so many jobs for the local area. Do you think the town will do everything it can to protect such an industry?”
Why is it difficult for farmers to make money if they stay in rural areas?
Besides the fact that growing grain is not profitable, the most important reason is that people can't find jobs in their hometowns.
As long as Lang Ying's project can continuously provide so many jobs for Langshan Town, Sun Zheyuan feels that if he were a town leader, he would also do his best to support such enterprises to survive, or even grow bigger and stronger.
“That makes sense… Director Sun, you have a long-term vision.” Jiang Xiaoman suddenly realized.
Sure enough! Less than a week after the plan was submitted, the county's approval came through.
Jiang Xiaoman had good reason to suspect that the town must have put in a lot of effort to make the approval process go so quickly.
But the result was unexpected: the county not only secured a two-year interest-free entrepreneurial loan of 500,000 yuan for Lang Ying and her family, but the county women's federation also decided to come to Langshan Village to investigate. If the investigation results meet the requirements, the project may be listed as a key support project for the year!
"That's great! Sister Yingzi, I knew you could definitely get this done!" Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to remind Lang Ying that when the Women's Federation came to inspect, it would be best to tell the leaders that after the cooperative was established, local left-behind women and elderly people would be given priority in being hired, which would be more in line with the Women's Federation's work direction.
Lang Ying secretly memorized it.
She had never had any dealings with the Women's Federation. When Jiang Erming cheated on her and wanted a divorce, she was still a clueless rural woman who never imagined that she could seek help from the Women's Federation when she encountered difficulties.
Looking back now, we realize we really suffered from a lack of education and reading. Jiang Xiaoman, a man, knew these basic facts, yet we women never did...
Lang Ying's project is progressing smoothly, but it will definitely take some time to officially launch. On the other hand, Jiang Xiaoman's own tea factory has already opened for business.
Locals usually host a banquet when building a new house, but Jiang Xiaoman's family had already done so once before when building their house. And since this was for a factory, he and Jiang Youliang discussed it and decided not to host a banquet. They also decided not to accept any gifts or money that day, and would just buy some candy and cigarettes and distribute them at the door.
Jiang Xiaoman's wild mountain tea cakes have now gained a reputation in a small area, especially among some old tea drinkers who love to drink tea. They are particularly fond of the taste of the tea cakes, and the repurchase rate is almost 100%!
After the tea factory was put into operation, production increased, but a new problem arose: there was a severe shortage of raw materials!
Without enough fresh tea leaves, the tea factory's production line is severely underutilized. It only needs to operate for a few hours a day to finish processing the tea, leaving it idle the rest of the time.
Jiang Xiaoman was both amused and exasperated!
He had been worried that the tea factory was too big and he wouldn't have time to spend with his father when he got busy. Now, it's a shame that such a tiny tea factory can't even operate at full capacity!
The lack of raw materials is indeed a major problem that tea factories have to solve.
After wandering around several nearby villages for a few days, Jiang Xiaoman finally made up her mind and went to the town again.
"What? You want to restart the old tea garden?" Sun Zheyuan almost spat out his tea.
“Nobody wants those old tea trees. They’re too tall, and it’s inconvenient to pick the tea leaves. How do you plan to restart them? Where will you get the money?” Sun Zheyuan wished he could crack open Jiang Xiaoman’s head to see if it was filled with freshly cooked paste.
Could someone come up with such a wasteful idea without suffering a brain hemorrhage for ten years?
"No, bro, can you let me finish before you start yelling?"
Jiang Xiaoman, both amused and exasperated, took out the plan she had spent several days writing.
Restarting an old tea garden that has been abandoned for more than a decade will indeed require a considerable amount of cost.
The land needs to be prepared again, fertilized, and the old tea trees pruned and pests and diseases treated.
The key is that after the tea leaves grow, people need to be hired to pick them and sell them. Even so, it will take at least two years to recover the costs of restarting the old tea gardens covering several acres.
"Is it better to work hard for two years to secure a stable job for the whole family for life, or to stay poor forever and starve when you get old? I think any normal person would choose the first option, right?" Jiang Xiaoman spread out the plan she had written and printed out, explaining it to Sun Zheyuan point by point.
"Director Sun, this is what I'm thinking. The tea leaves that our tea factory is currently collecting are all picked by local people from the mountains. But you know how it is with wild tea. Everyone just picks them without caring about how to cultivate them. Some people even break off tea tree branches to make it easier to pick the leaves from higher places."
"If we just keep picking the tea without taking care of it, our wild tea tree resources in Langshan will be exhausted in a few years."
"Wild tea leaves will be hard to find then. No matter how well my tea cakes sell, there's nothing I can do without raw materials. I can't just buy tea from elsewhere and pass it off as tea from Langshan, can I?"
"So I thought, rather than being forced to reduce production and even the entire cooperative going out of business, it would be better to take advantage of the crisis now and quickly prepare a backup plan."
“I’ve thought about it. The reason why our old tea gardens were abandoned in the past was mainly because growing tea was not profitable. But if it were profitable, do you think the people would not grow it?”
“Everyone wants to make this money, but they are missing a leader to guide them. Also, the reopening and renovation of the old tea garden requires a lot of technical guidance. These resources are hard for ordinary people to find, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for the town to make this happen, right?”
“It’s not difficult at all. Many universities in China have counterpart support programs now. Our town submits the plan, and once it’s approved, the county will match us with a university for counterpart assistance… Wait! I can’t make that decision!” Sun Zheyuan looked at Jiang Xiaoman with lingering fear.
He's starting to wonder if Jiang Xiaoman is using some kind of spell. How come he's acting like he's been bewitched as soon as she talks to him, doing everything Jiang Xiaoman says?
"Hehe~ That's settled then? Actually, I did a careful calculation. Based on an average of three acres of old tea garden per household, the technical guidance is free. The only expenses that the people actually have to pay are the cost of purchasing pruning tools, loosening the soil, fertilizing, and pest control. If the family does it themselves, the old tea trees will sprout new buds the following year, and they can pick them and sell them to recover part of the cost."
"Also, don't waste the pruned tea tree branches. We can ask technicians to teach the locals how to use tea tree branches to propagate new tea seedlings."
"At that time, the upper layer of the tea garden will be tall old tea trees, and the lower layer can be planted with newly cultivated tea seedlings."
“I asked my dad, and if the tea seedlings propagated by cuttings grow quickly, they can produce tea in three years. At that time, one acre can produce more fresh tea, which can basically ensure that within three years, the farmers can recover the cost of restarting the old tea garden.”
"In other words, in three years, the old tea gardens in people's homes will become a golden goose. They can raise two more pigs each year, and use the pig manure to fertilize the tea gardens. They can also weed at home without having to hire anyone... If you calculate it this way, as long as you take good care of a few acres of tea gardens and harvest two to three batches of fresh leaves each year, and each acre can sell for more than 10,000 yuan, each household can increase their income by tens of thousands of yuan a year just by selling tea, right?"
"Think about how much the average annual income of families in our Langshan Town is now..." Jiang Xiaoman whispered enticingly.
Sun Zheyuan was stunned for a moment, then his heart was immediately moved!
Isn't this exactly the goal he strives to achieve by dedicating himself to poverty alleviation at the grassroots level?
Once upon a time, he went everywhere looking for projects and attracting investment, just so that the people of Langshan could incubate a project that could generate sustainable income right at their doorstep!
Don't be fooled by a tea garden of just a few acres; it might only bring in 50,000 to 60,000 yuan a year at most.
But as Jiang Xiaoman said, as long as you pay attention to cost control, these profits are almost all pure profit!
Growing tea is not like growing crops. Every year, you have to spend a lot of money to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. After deducting the cost of renting agricultural machinery, if you just grow grain, you can earn 2,000 yuan a year per mu (unit of land area), which is considered a high yield with good weather.
However, if all the abandoned old tea gardens in Langshan area were restarted, although it would cost some money in the early stages, in the long run, as long as the tea trees survived, the maintenance costs would be much lower than those for crops. Moreover, a tea tree can easily live for several hundred years if it is well cared for!
In the future, not only this generation, but also future generations will benefit from the dividends. For example, those old tea trees in Wuyi Mountain have supported generations.
The most crucial thing is—
"In the past, people were unwilling to grow tea because the green tea from Langshan could not be sold."
"Now that I'm here to guarantee their livelihood, as long as the tea leaves are grown, there's no worry about selling them. Do you think everyone would be willing to grow them?"
"Can your small tea factory handle so many fresh leaves?" Sun Zheyuan looked at him suspiciously.
"Of course my family can't afford it all, but these small tea cakes are so profitable. If I don't expand production, won't other families follow suit and open tea factories?"
Jiang Xiaoman smiled and said that he had successfully persuaded his good brother Jiang Yu that as long as the old tea gardens in the town could be restarted and the tea production increased, they would invest in building a new factory.
Shan Yan and the others were well aware of how popular Langshan's small tea cakes were, but because Jiang Xiaoman was their good friend, they didn't want to compete with him for business.
But if Jiang Xiaoman were to offer to give up this part of the market... not to mention Shan Yan, even Sun Zheyuan would be tempted, okay?
Chapter 215
Less than a month later, when Sun Zheyuan came running over with another project proposal, Deputy Mayor Kong's eyelids twitched: "Is this Jiang Xiaoman's doing again?"