Chengnan Town, Zhejiang Province: the cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine depends on the market.

At Peng Fugui's planting base in Chengnan Town, more than a dozen workers "sink" in the bushes, cutting off raspberry branches and picking the raspberries growing on them. These raspberries and we usually eat can be different, except for a few have a little red, basically all through the green. "The raspberry turns red, which means it's ripe and can be eaten as a fruit. However, these are used as medicinal herbs. They need green ones that are not mature yet." Peng Fugui said.

Artificial planting raspberries can sell for 90 yuan per catty

Peng Fugui began planting traditional Chinese medicine five or six years ago. "Previously, we planted white atractylodes rhizome, but this variety is more popular, and the benefits are not very good, so we started planting raspberries and iris two years ago." Peng Fugui said that this year is the first year of raspberry harvest, but also the best price in recent years,"after picking in early May, a catty can be sold to about 90 yuan." On the market, the price of a catty of raspberry dried fruit was 58 yuan to 70 yuan the year before last, and 65 yuan to 75 yuan last year."

Because fresh raspberries are difficult to preserve, Peng Fugui specially bought a dryer to dry or dry raspberries. "When I first started picking, raspberries were still relatively tender. It took about 3.5 kg to 4 kg to dry into 1 kg of dried fruit. Now, 3 kg can be dried into 1 kg of dried fruit." Peng Fugui estimates that 100 catties of raspberry dried fruit can be harvested on one mu of land this year."It is mainly because it rains for a long time during flowering period, which affects the yield. I estimate that 200 catties ~300 catties of dried fruit can be harvested on one mu of land next year."

Peng Fugui is not worried about the sales of raspberries."There are not many people growing raspberries now. In addition, the quantity of wild raspberries is small and the quality is not good. The price of artificial cultivation is getting higher and higher. The sales are very good. The medicinal materials company will take the initiative to buy them."

In addition to raspberries, Peng Fugui's iris will also have a bumper harvest in August this year. "The market price of iris is not low this year either. It can be sold for 14.5 yuan to 15 yuan per catty. The year before last, it was only 7.5 yuan per catty."

More than 600 mu of traditional Chinese medicinal materials have been planted in the south of the city, and subsidies can be obtained for planting more.

Peng Fugui is not the only one planting traditional Chinese medicine. In the past two years, many growers in the south of the city have begun to set foot in the traditional Chinese medicine market. "Up to now, we have planted more than 600 mu of Chinese herbal medicines in Chengnan Town, and the main varieties are raspberries, lilies, and clover. Peng Fugui planted 60 mu of raspberries and 60 mu of iris." Chengnan town relevant responsible person said.

In order to encourage people to plant traditional Chinese medicine and flowers on a large scale, Chengnan Town also issued relevant subsidy policies last year, giving subsidies ranging from 600 yuan to 1000 yuan per mu for three consecutive years. For example, if ornamental traditional Chinese medicinal materials are planted in pieces of 20 mu or more and the land lease period is 3 years or more, a subsidy of 1000 yuan per mu will be given in the first year, 600 yuan per mu in the second year and 300 yuan per mu in the third year. The same is true for economical Chinese medicinal materials planted in pieces. In the first year, 600 yuan per mu is subsidized, 400 yuan per mu in the second year and 200 yuan per mu in the third year.

Peng Fugui's products this time involve two subsidies: ornamental Chinese medicinal materials and economic Chinese medicinal materials. "I was the first to apply. I've already received a subsidy of more than 80,000 yuan for the first year." Peng Fugui said.

Planting traditional Chinese medicinal materials should not be too blind. Dendrobium officinale is a counterexample.

According to the preliminary statistics of the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry, Wenling Chinese herbal medicine planting area has been thousands of acres, of which the most is Dendrobium officinale.

"Our city's traditional Chinese medicine is mainly Dendrobium officinale, mainly distributed in Daxi, Wenqiao, Chengnan, Ruoheng and other places. According to incomplete statistics, the city's Dendrobium officinale area has more than 800 mu, and it is mainly cultivated in facilities." In addition to Dendrobium officinale, saffron, trifoliate green, raspberry, foxglove, etc. have also been planted frequently in the past two years." City agriculture and forestry bureau related staff said. However, because many growers do not fully investigate the market, resulting in problems in sales and prices, take Dendrobium officinale for example, the price has dropped a lot in recent years, before thousands of yuan a kilogram of Dendrobium officinale, now less than 100 yuan can be bought.

Some growers said that in 2013, Dendrobium officinale could still sell for five or six hundred yuan per catty, but in 2014, it fell to two or three hundred yuan, and it was difficult to sell for one or two hundred yuan in these two years.

"Before planting Chinese herbal medicines, we still need to know more about the market environment and not blindly. For example, planting raspberries in the south of the city is actually a good choice. On the one hand, because raspberries are not difficult to grow, on the other hand, because there is market demand, and wild raspberries cannot grow in pieces, this provides opportunities for artificial cultivation of raspberries." The staff member said.

He also reminded that it was better to plant Chinese medicinal herbs under the forest. "Many Chinese medicinal herbs are suitable for growing under the forest. The quality will be better, and the forest land can be used reasonably. Not only is the rent cheap, but there is no need to build too much infrastructure, which can save a lot of costs. However, although the quality of undergrowth plants will be better, because they are imitated wild plants, their yield may be affected."