What Are the Prospects for the Chinese Medicinal Herb Planting Industry? Analysis of the Current Situation and Trends
What are the prospects for the Chinese medicinal herb planting industry? Every grower, whether large-scale or small-scale, should carefully grasp the planting characteristics of medicinal plants from the perspective of plant cultivation science, including varieties, water and fertilizer, meteorology and geography, market forecasting, labor and management, etc. Various domestic efforts are focused on raising the level of scientific farming in order to achieve high returns from medicinal herb cultivation. Summarizing years of experience, we mainly analyze and discuss this from eight aspects.
The rise in prices of Chinese medicinal herbs and the substantial increase in their returns are a reasonable correction driven by rising prices of grain, cotton and oil as well as higher labor costs and a higher consumer price index. It is unfair for some to call this a skyrocketing surge. With the implementation of the policies on agriculture, rural areas and farmers, urban-rural integration, the further deepening of reform and opening up, and the strengthening of environmental protection and green concepts, traditional Chinese medicine is taking a great leap onto the world stage.
1. Resources and demand determine planting returns. The Chinese medicinal herb market, pharmaceutical manufacturing and exports have all shown a trend of substantial growth. The demand for dozens of Chinese medicinal herb varieties is calculated in tens of thousands of tons. In the third quarter, China exported 210,000 tons of Chinese medicinal herbs, an increase of about 30% over the same period last year. With the depletion of wild resources, the demand for medicinal herbs will inevitably shift to cultivation. The current era of scientific farming is driving the Chinese medicinal herb industry to gradually become stronger and larger.
2. The rise in prices of grain, cotton and oil and the increase in the prices of means of production will inevitably bring a reasonable rebound in the prices of Chinese medicinal herbs. Other economic planting industries, such as landscaping seedlings, have also been smooth sailing, and this has already brought joy and returns to herb growers.
3. The rise in labor costs and prices will undoubtedly exert a pulling effect on the market prices of Chinese medicinal herbs. This is inevitable and reasonable. Take this year's safflower picking in Xinjiang as an example: each worker can only pick about one kilogram each morning, and the hourly wage is several times higher than in previous years. Hiring workers at high cost makes herb growers miserable. The difficulty of hiring workers and the high wages have pushed the cost price of safflower to around 70 yuan, and the market price has risen to the 100-yuan mark.
4. The growing concept of environmental protection and green practices, and the fact that Chinese medicine treats the root cause of illness, have driven business opportunities for the Chinese medicinal herb industry and pushed it onto the world stage. Not long ago, the drug resistance and antibiotic resistance of superbugs once again struck a chord in the Chinese medicine community.
5. Awareness of prevention and health care: In the campaigns to prevent and control SARS and avian influenza over the years, Chinese medicine has indeed played a pivotal role in prevention and treatment. Chinese medicinal herb health teas and decoction pieces are gradually entering people's daily lives. Various new Chinese medicine products have been successfully developed one after another, repeatedly achieving remarkable results in preventing and treating diseases for the public, bringing many new highlights to the Chinese medicine industry.
6. The indeed-existing gap in the production of Chinese medicinal herb seeds and seedlings directly affects the production returns of Chinese medicinal herb cultivation. Many bold and capable herb growers with vision have identified opportunities accurately, managed well, invested quickly, and seized this high-return position in medicinal herb cultivation. In recent years, high herb prices have led to gaps in Chinese medicine production, and some medicinal herbs have even lost their seeds and seedlings entirely, causing seed prices to rise several times over with abnormal fluctuations. Seed production, purification and rejuvenation are labor-intensive with low returns, and many producers have chosen to give up. Flowering and fruiting in whole-plant and root-and-rhizome medicinal herbs have a serious impact on both the yield and quality of the medicinal materials. In order to increase yield and quality and pursue high-price returns, flower buds are removed, causing a large-scale shortage in seed production. For example, isatis root (Isatis indigotica), which is efficient, easy to grow and easy to manage, has seen its planting volume rise sharply over several consecutive years of high returns; most of the seeds of various colors and grades have been used up. Because of the focus on immediate medicinal herb production, seed production has come to a standstill, and it is almost impossible to find new seeds nationwide. The same is true for Platycodon grandiflorus (balloon flower). There are also minor varieties beyond the common ones, such as sharunzi (Astragalus complanatus), which face the verge of extinction, and it will take several years to turn the market around. Therefore, it is difficult for high-priced medicinal herbs and high-priced seeds to come down in price.
7. Other aspects: floods, freezing damage and pests and diseases have severely impacted the Chinese medicinal herb planting industry, but they are mostly localized and highly sporadic, often leaving herb growers with total losses and misery, while the lucky ones enjoy favorable weather and a bumper harvest. In recent years, the mechanization of medicinal herb cultivation, including sowing, harvesting, spraying and fertilizing, has rapidly increased in level of modernization, bringing much good news to herb growers, especially large-scale growers. In some regions, the state has even introduced policies to provide special support for herb growers.
8. Looking at the market optimistically, for low-cost medicinal herbs, herb growers are reluctant to sell and hold back by hoarding and cold storage. Over the years, traders and herb growers have accumulated quite a few patterns. In addition, the state encourages social capital to participate in the circulation of agricultural products. Therefore, we can say that the phenomenon of herb growers losing money and medicinal herbs being left to rot is unlikely to recur.
In summary, the Chinese medicinal herb planting industry has begun to move toward a new era of rational development. Some people will use modern information and technology to create their own wealth.