Nanhua County welcomes peak of wild mushroom trade

Photo by Yang Zheng

Recently, Nanhua County in central Yunnan’s Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture ushered in the peak of its wild edible mushroom industry. Nearly 200 tons of wild edible mushrooms are traded in the county every day, bringing in daily trading revenues of ten million yuan.

In the past few years, Nanhua County has been forcefully implementing a policy of “closing hillsides to facilitate the growth of wild edible mushrooms.” This has effectively protected the natural ecological environment required for wild mushrooms to grow. In Nanhua County, this wild edible mushroom development policy covers an area of two million mu(about 1,333 square kilometres), accounting for 80 percent of the county’s forest area, increasing annual reserves of wild mushrooms to 10,000 tons. Last year, nearly 7,000 tons of wild edible mushrooms were traded across the county, bringing in more than 400 million yuan.

Yang Zheng