Is Dendrobium officinale cultivation a scam or can it really make money?

Dendrobium officinale is a valuable medicinal plant, ranked alongside reishi mushroom, ginseng and cordyceps as a top-grade Chinese herbal medicine. In recent years Dendrobium officinale has become the darling of the market, but some people also say that cultivating Dendrobium officinale is a scam. So is Dendrobium officinale cultivation a scam? Can it make money?

1. Is Dendrobium officinale cultivation a scam?

The extremely low reproductive and survival capacity of Dendrobium officinale, combined with reckless harvesting and felling by profit-obsessed people, has pushed it to the brink of extinction. With its unique qualities superior to other Chinese herbal medicines, it has become the “darling” of market consumers. Seeing this opportunity, some profit-seeking people begin to stir into action, using “sweet talk” and so-called “absolutely authentic Dendrobium officinale” and “we will definitely help you get rich” to deceive consumers and growers, thereby making consumers and growers feel “afraid of real versus fake”. At the same time, some unscrupulous merchants, generally newly established shell companies, use high-priced buyback as bait to lure growers into joining, with the aim of reselling seedlings at high prices.

2. How to avoid scams in Dendrobium officinale cultivation?

1. Look at technical strength: no matter how great the prospects of any valuable planting venture, it is futile if the plants cannot survive or the yield is very low.

2. Look at scale and strength: factory buildings, cultivation workshops, specialty stores and planting bases are all signs of a truly established enterprise and a solid physical operation.

3. Look at actual products: Dendrobium officinale cultivation enterprises generally also sell health products such as dendrobium and fengdou; check whether their sales capability is real.

4. Look at the business license: check the date on the license, whether the company is newly opened, whether it is affiliated with another manufacturer, and whether the official seal belongs to the same entity as the planting base and pharmaceutical factory.

5. Conduct on-site inspection: larger-scale growers must conduct on-site inspections and check the enterprise's reputation.

6. Do not trust buyback guarantees: buyback guarantees are indeed tempting to growers of valuable Chinese medicines such as Dendrobium officinale, but even for fresh stems of Dendrobium officinale of the same variety, the purchase price fluctuates every year. Those that advertise an extremely high guaranteed floor price, offer buyback, and dare to sign a 5-year planting and buyback contract are not highly credible.

3. Is cultivating dendrobium profitable?

Because dendrobium has a slow growth cycle, harsh growing conditions and an extremely low reproduction rate, and because in recent years, driven by market demand, people have dug it up in unlimited quantities, Dendrobium officinale has been pushed to the brink of extinction. This has caused the price of Dendrobium officinale to keep soaring. The price of fresh product rose from 600 yuan per kg in 2010 to 1,500 yuan per kg in 2012, more than doubling. Its first-grade dried product, fengdou, had already exceeded 20,000 yuan per kg in 2013. With continuous breakthroughs in agricultural technology, the application of tissue culture technology and artificial cultivation techniques has enabled the Dendrobium officinale industry to develop rapidly. The country's existing planting area has exceeded 2,000 hectares. It is cultivated in Zhejiang, Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Fujian, Jiangsu and Sichuan. The output value has exceeded 3 billion yuan, making it one of China's Chinese medicinal materials with the largest production and sales volume and the fastest development.

4. Market prospects of dendrobium

At present, the total annual demand of the entire dendrobium market is 8,000 to 10,000 tons, and demand is increasing by 10 to 15% each year. However, artificial cultivation has just started, and supply is severely insufficient. It is expected that within 10 years, dendrobium output will still be difficult to meet market demand. At present, the price of premium pure dendrobium is around 100,000 yuan per kg. The price of first-grade dendrobium is 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per kg, and it is unavailable even at that price.

The cultivation of Dendrobium officinale is indeed promising and can also make money, but the cultivation techniques are quite demanding. Many people do not have enough technical experience to grow it, which is what leads to losses.