Edible Fungus Industry Booms in County of SE China's Fujian

With a forest coverage rate of 72.1 percent, Gutian county in southeast China's Fujian Province has cultivated a thriving edible fungus industry.

The total output value of the county's industrial chain of the edible fungus sector, mainly represented by the snow fungus industry, is worth 23.5 billion yuan ($3.28 billion). The county produces 38 varieties of edible fungi, with the output of snow fungi accounting for over 90 percent of the global total. About 70 percent of local farmers' incomes come from the edible fungus industry.

In the late 1990s, 30,000 households engaged in the cultivation of snow fungi in Gutian, and the county's output of snow fungi made up over 90 percent of the national total.

However, back then, the snow fungus industry dominated by smallholders couldn't meet the needs of industrialized and large-scale operations and the market demand for high-quality products, said Li Su, deputy director of the edible fungus industry development center of Gutian, adding that mechanization and standardized development became imperative.

In 2015, the county introduced nine targeted measures to promote the transformation and upgrading of its edible fungi industry. It allocated 10 million yuan annually to support leading enterprises, factory production, and the construction of standardized bases.

Gutian invited Lin Jiufang, a successful businessman from the county, to return home and take over Fujian Tiantianyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a local company engaged in the factory production of snow fungi that faced difficulties operating back then.

With support from the local government, sci-tech experts, and the edible fungi research institute (Gutian) under the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, the company was soon on the right track to push forward intelligent production, according to Lin.

"Intelligent production has greatly increased the industry's scale and the quality of snow fungi. Since 2015, more and more high-quality snow fungi have entered the global market," said Li. The official added that intelligent production has also enabled the year-round cultivation of snow fungi.

In 2018, Gutian issued 15 measures to boost the development of its edible fungi industry, including the development of edible fungus processing.

A year later, Zhang Jiaqiao, a businesswoman who returned to Gutian to engage in the organic cultivation and intelligent production of snow fungi, introduced a production line for deep processing of the edible fungus.

Now, over 60,000 snow fungi are sent to Zhang's deep-processing workshop every day and are manufactured into instant snow fungus soup.

"From primary products to deep-processed products, the added value has increased at least 30 percent," Zhang said.

Gutian has also emphasized brand building to further develop the snow fungus industry. In 2020, it planned the construction of an edible fungus industrial park, which covers a section for initial processing, cold chain storage, packaging and distribution, a section with standardized factories spanning 100,000 square meters for deep processing, as well as a section for innovation-driven development.

That year, a biotech company which specialized in the cultivation and processing of snow fungi for many years was attracted to settle in Gutian.

"This has injected fresh vitality into our county's snow fungus sector and driven our brand building," said Li, adding that two years later, over 30 types of deep-processed snow fungus products and more than 100 brands emerged in the county.

Gutian will continue to promote the high-quality development of the edible fungus industry and embark on a path of rural revitalization by developing industries that benefit local people and boost the county's development, said Zhang Chenghui, Party chief of Gutian county.