Guizhou commits to developing edible mushroom industry

Southwest China's Guizhou province has committed to developing the edible mushroom industry, with mushroom farming operations transferring from East China to West China.

During the past four years, Guizhou's mushroom output volume increased by 51.4 percent annually and the output value increased by 60.7 percent annually.

In 2020, Guizhou's mushroom output volume was 1.48 million metric tons with an output value of 18.47 billion yuan ($2.89 billion). The annual growth of both output volume and value ranked first in China.

Currently, Guizhou has three national-level major mushroom enterprises, 50 provincial-level ones, 24 mushroom processing enterprises with annual business revenue exceeding 20 million yuan each, and 155 mushroom production enterprises that can produce more than 10 million logs of mushrooms.

The province's warm and moist weather, high forest coverage and high-quality water make it suitable for mushroom cultivation. Guizhou has 80 percent of China's wild mushroom varieties and is the origin place of various rare medicinal mushrooms.

Guizhou has prioritized mushroom industries as one of its 12 featured agricultural industries and launched various measures to improve the business environment for industrial development.

In addition to fresh mushrooms, Guizhou is also developing related processing businesses specializing in mushroom extracts, freeze-dried mushrooms and mushroom-based seasonings to increase the mushroom industry's output value and economic benefits.