Abstract
Small-scale household production of edible mushrooms by farmers is the major source of edible mushrooms in China. However, large-scale enterprises who engage in commercial cultivation of edible mushrooms has been growing at a relatively fast pace, bringing about challenges for small-scale farmers. With the purpose of help maintain small-scale farmers’ ability to survive in this fiercely competitive landscape, this paper first analyzes their competitive advantages, disadvantages and survival strategies, employing the methods of field survey and comparative observation. Based on these analyses, suggestions concerning how to strengthen the survivability of small-scale farmers are proposed, focusing on further lowering production cost and optimizing cooperative modes.
Highlights
Over the past few years, due to the sustained growth of demand and production of edible mushrooms, China has become the world’s largest cultivator, consumer, and exporter of edible mushroom [1]
It can be concluded that the edible mushroom cultivation in China is dominated by small-scale farmers, who engage in household production of mushrooms
Suggestions concerning how to strengthen the survivability of small-scale farmers were proposed in the end of this paper, focusing on further lowering cost of production and optimizing cooperation
Summary
Over the past few years, due to the sustained growth of demand and production of edible mushrooms, China has become the world’s largest cultivator, consumer, and exporter of edible mushroom [1]. (2014) Study on Survival Strategies of Farmers Engage in Small-Scale Household Cultivation of Edible Mushrooms: Take Shandong Province as an Example. It can be concluded that the edible mushroom cultivation in China is dominated by small-scale farmers, who engage in household production of mushrooms ( referred as “small-scale farmers” in this paper). In order to survive in this fiercely competitive landscape, small-scale farmers have, or tried to, employed the following three main survival strategies: competitive differentiation, cooperation, and product diversification. Based on these analyses, suggestions concerning how to strengthen the survivability of small-scale farmers were proposed in the end of this paper, focusing on further lowering cost of production and optimizing cooperation
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