As you enter this oyster mushroom cultivation greenhouse in Shuiquan village of Baotou's Guyang county, the rich aroma of mushrooms wafts through the air. Local villagers are now busy harvesting this thriving yield.

Mushrooms grow from mushroom sticks in the village. [Photo/Baotou news network]

Shuiquan village has embraced the development of specialty agriculture cultivation by establishing a cooperative for edible mushrooms. It introduced a variety of black oyster mushrooms, providing employment opportunities and increasing the income for the villagers. The project was planned with consideration of the village's practical situation. The village's limited arable land prevents large-scale cultivation of crops, making mushroom cultivation a viable option to benefit most villagers.

"Considering the high proportion of elderly residents and a relatively weak labor force in the village, we identified that edible mushroom cultivation is a key focus for collective economic development. We constructed mushroom cultivation facilities, which, compared to traditional crops, require less physical exertion," explained Su Jianjun, the director of the village committee.

Villager Zhang Yonghou is busy every day in the mushroom cultivation greenhouse, and together with his wife, they earn a combined monthly income of between 8,000 yuan ($1,116) and 9,000 yuan. Zhang mentioned, "Working here is better than farming the land, especially as we grow older and find it challenging to work the fields."

Zhang waters mushroom sticks. [Photo/Baotou news network]

In addition to mushroom cultivation, Shuiquan village also has a feed factory and a sheep farming project. Su mentioned that the next step for the village is to expand the scale of its mushroom cultivation and explore multiple channels to establish production and sales coordination platforms.