What is the cultivation prospect of Corydalis yanhusuo? Benefit and market analysis

Corydalis yanhusuo, also known as Yuanhu, Xuanhu, etc., is warm in nature, pungent and bitter in taste, and enters the heart, spleen, liver, and lung meridians. It has the effects of promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis and moving qi to relieve pain. It is one of the commonly used varieties of Chinese medicinal materials, with an annual usage of about 5,000 tons, and has very high cultivation prospects and cultivation benefits. Let us take a look together below!

Cultivation prospects of Corydalis yanhusuo

Corydalis yanhusuo is a commonly used variety of Chinese medicinal materials. Its extract contains more than 20 kinds of alkaloids, and its main effects are promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis and regulating qi to relieve pain. Because its pain relief is non-addictive, it can also be used for advanced cancer, and its function is similar to that of “Panax notoginseng”. Because Panax notoginseng is very expensive, Corydalis yanhusuo, as its substitute, has continuously increasing market demand. As Chinese herbal medicine products gradually begin to go abroad, foreign demand for Corydalis yanhusuo is also continuously increasing. Total demand is about more than 20,000 tons, nearly 2 times the production volume.

In recent years, China's Corydalis yanhusuo production and sales have both been strong, and prices have risen steadily. As Corydalis yanhusuo is used more and more widely in the pharmaceutical field, demand is constantly increasing, and the market prospect is very broad. Corydalis yanhusuo, along with Atractylodes macrocephala, peony, and Fritillaria, is known as one of the “Eight Flavors of Zhejiang”.

After the price trough appeared in 2002, the planting area in southern main production areas such as Pan'an, Dongyang, and Jinyun in Zhejiang, and Xuanzhou in Anhui gradually shrank. In addition, affected by industrial development and other cash crops, Corydalis yanhusuo production was continuously reduced. However, due to suitable ecological environment and relatively low labor costs in Chenggu, Shaanxi, economic benefits were relatively prominent, and the planting area expanded year by year. At present, China has basically formed two major production areas centered on Pan'an in Zhejiang and Chenggu in Shaanxi. In 2012, the national annual cultivation area of Corydalis yanhusuo was 104,600 mu, and the annual output reached 12,600 tons.

Cultivation benefits of Corydalis yanhusuo

1. Pan'an production area: This production area has a relatively developed economy, less per capita land area, and higher land costs. Few people contract land to plant Corydalis yanhusuo; most medicinal farmers plant it in their own private plots. Its costs mainly come from chemical fertilizers and hiring a small number of people for digging. Generally, the cost per mu is about 1,000 yuan. The output per mu is not much different from that of the Hanzhong production area, and most medicinal farmers also process it into dry goods for sale, so the returns are much higher than in the Hanzhong production area.

2. Hanzhong production area

① Planting cost per mu: Medicinal farmers in the Hanzhong production area mostly keep their own seeds when planting Corydalis yanhusuo, and few people buy Corydalis yanhusuo for planting. Their planting costs mainly come from sowing, digging, chemical fertilizers, watering, field management, and land contract fees. The total input per mu is about 2,500 yuan (sowing cost: the production area generally uses machine sowing, at about 90-100 yuan per mu. Digging cost: Corydalis yanhusuo cannot be dug by machinery and is mostly dug by hand. One mu requires about 20 labor hours, costing about 1,500-1,600 yuan. Chemical fertilizers, watering, field management, and land contract fees total about 900 yuan.)

② Output per mu: The yield of Corydalis yanhusuo per mu is generally 400-500 kg.

③ Income per mu: This year the purchase price of fresh Corydalis yanhusuo is 9-9.6 yuan, the total income per mu is about 4,200 yuan, and after deducting costs, the net income per mu is about 1,700 yuan.

Current processing status of Corydalis yanhusuo

1. Zhejiang production area: The Pan'an production area in Zhejiang is the genuine producing area of Corydalis yanhusuo. This production area has a long history of Corydalis yanhusuo cultivation, and its planting and processing techniques are relatively mature. The purchase price of Corydalis yanhusuo is also somewhat higher than in the Hanzhong production area. In addition, most medicinal farmers in this production area process fresh Corydalis yanhusuo into dried Corydalis yanhusuo themselves, so the returns are also much higher than in Hanzhong. In the Zhejiang production area, ordinary medicinal farmers can generally achieve a net income of more than 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per mu.

2. Hanzhong production area: Because the processing and drying of Corydalis yanhusuo is rather troublesome, it must be sun-dried for a day during the day, then piled up and kept warm at night, spread out again the next day to dry, and turned once after drying for two hours. In good weather it can be dried in seven days, while in poor weather it takes more than ten days. Therefore, medicinal farmers in the production area rarely process fresh Corydalis yanhusuo into dried Corydalis yanhusuo for sale, and mostly sell fresh Corydalis yanhusuo to local processors for processing. The total amount of Corydalis yanhusuo processed by processors is about 70-80% of the total output of Corydalis yanhusuo in the production area. The drying ratio of Corydalis yanhusuo is generally 3.5-3.7:1, which means that to process one kilogram of dried Corydalis yanhusuo, the processor's cost for fresh Corydalis yanhusuo reaches 32-34 yuan. Adding some other costs (such as labor costs, etc.), the cost of one kilogram of dried Corydalis yanhusuo is about 37-38 yuan. At present, the purchase price of Corydalis yanhusuo in the production area is 40-41 yuan, and processors can only earn 2-3 yuan per kilogram of Corydalis yanhusuo. Although it is still profitable for processors, if goods move poorly and the market weakens, the pressure on capital will also be very great.