What is the latest market prospect for licorice cultivation?
Experts of traditional Chinese medicine say that 9 out of 10 traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions contain licorice, and without licorice there would be no traditional Chinese medicine. But recently relevant scientists have once again issued a warning that China's licorice is endangered. People in the industry believe that if licorice can be produced and harvested in a regulated way and artificial cultivation can be reasonably developed, it should have a very large market prospect.
China's licorice is mainly produced in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and other places. For many years, because people have harvested and dug it indiscriminately, not only have vegetation resources been seriously damaged and large areas of soil desertified, but the area of wild licorice nationwide has also dropped sharply. Relevant experts predict that at the current harvesting rate, in 5 years it will be very difficult to find a single surviving wild licorice plant on China's land.
According to relevant statistics, China's current annual domestic demand is about 60,000 to 70,000 tons, and exports are also continuing to grow. In terms of price, the market purchase price of licorice is 7 yuan to 8 yuan per kg, and the retail price is more than 10 yuan per kg. The cost for a farmer to cultivate one mu of land is about 600 yuan. If one mu of land produces 1,000 kg in 3 years, a farmer's annual income per mu can reach more than 1,000 yuan, and the prospect is promising. At present, the problem that urgently needs to be solved is to control the indiscriminate harvesting and digging of wild licorice as soon as possible.
Protecting the environment and developing the economy are a pair of contradictions in China's economic life. Developing the economy must at the same time pay attention to environmental protection, and environmental protection cannot be separated from economic development. Environmental protection without economic development is likewise difficult to sustain. At present, domestic and international market demand for licorice products is very large. Experts believe that to resolve the contradiction between the export of licorice products and China's environmental protection, the most critical thing is to develop artificial cultivation of licorice.
From the history of the development of China's traditional Chinese medicine industry, bulk Chinese medicinal materials must all follow the path of artificial cultivation, that is, using artificially cultivated varieties to replace wild varieties. China's artificial cultivation of licorice has gone through a fairly long period of exploration. With returning farmland to forest and returning farmland to grassland, artificial cultivation of licorice cannot follow the path of reclaiming wasteland to plant grass. Judging from the current actual situation of developing artificial cultivation of licorice, vigorously promoting the coordinated progress of cultivation and fenced breeding, as well as reasonably developing the path of base construction, is relatively practical and feasible. In addition, the areas for developing cultivation must also transition from desertified areas where ecological vegetation is relatively weak to farming areas where ecological vegetation is relatively solid.
At present, 80% of the licorice on the market is wild, and only 20% is artificially cultivated. In fact, licorice is not a difficult plant to grow; as long as the soil and moisture are suitable, it can be planted on a large scale. Some people believe that the key to solving the problem of artificial cultivation of licorice is now mainly not a funding problem, nor a land problem, but rather improving the quality of artificially cultivated licorice and truly ensuring the replacement of wild varieties by artificially cultivated varieties of licorice. This requires increasing investment in scientific research and conducting in-depth research on variety selection, seed collection, rational application of water and fertilizer, harvesting years, internal quality and appearance, and all other aspects, so as to find suitable solutions.
At present, the Chinese government has issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Trade of Nostoc flagelliforme and Prohibiting the Indiscriminate Harvesting and Digging of Licorice and Ephedra", and has brought the harvesting and processing of licorice under national management. Therefore, the market prospect for artificial cultivation of licorice in China is promising.