Honeysuckle cultivation helps farmers increase income and achieve prosperity
Honeysuckle is also known as "double flower"; because it is a climbing woody plant, it is also called honeysuckle vine or mandarin duck vine. The flowers are snow-white when they first open and turn golden yellow after 2-3 days, hence the name honeysuckle. Because its leaves do not wither through winter, and in spring the old leaves slowly fall only as new leaves emerge, it is also called Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), a semi-evergreen perennial climbing woody plant.
Honeysuckle is one of the 70 precious and commonly used traditional Chinese medicinal materials designated by the State Council. It has wide uses, an extremely high prescription usage rate, a large clinical formula volume, and a very large demand as a raw material for Chinese patent medicines. In the Chinese patent medicines produced year-round by major pharmaceutical enterprises at home and abroad, honeysuckle is one of the main raw materials. Demand has surged, prices have risen several times over, and supplies are short; the contradiction between supply and demand cannot be fundamentally eased in a short period. Therefore, there is no worry about selling honeysuckle when it is grown. Chengdu Diao Group has publicly stated that it needs 40,000-50,000 tons each year.
The range suitable for growing honeysuckle is broad. In Yibin alone, the climate and soil conditions of its nine counties and one district all fall within the planting range. Each farmer can plant it around the house and behind the house, and it grows quickly. It not only has high medicinal value but also relatively high economic benefits.
Honeysuckle medicine is called a miracle drug that can overcome the "little emperor disease." Honeysuckle extract yields fire-clearing and toxin-expelling factors, and its effective content reaches the level of clearing internal fire and body toxins and improving children's independent immunity. Honeysuckle is one of the main formula drugs for treating influenza, sore and swollen throat, acute mastitis, vasculitis, painful boils and swollen toxins, dysentery, clearing summer heat, and treating urinary system infections. Especially after the 2003 SARS outbreak, its medicinal value received much attention; every SARS prevention prescription could not lack this honeysuckle.
The technique for growing honeysuckle is simple, and the economic benefits are good. Making full use of land returned from farmland to forest for planting is best. After planting, the land is not turned; it is a perennial plant, and the flower vines grow 2-3 m up trees without affecting forest growth. Plant 800-1,000 plants per mu, plant in October each year, and flowers bloom in May each year. It flowers one year after planting, and in the second year it goes into production at 40-50 jin of flowers per mu (dried flowers), with an output value of 400-1,000 yuan. After three years it enters the full production period, with 300-400 jin per mu and an output value of 3,000-4,000 yuan, yielding considerable returns.