Yiliang Gastrodia Elata

Yiliang Gastrodia Elata

　　Yiliang Gastrodia Elata is a specialty of Yiliang County in Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. Regarded as a "treasure" bestowed upon Yiliang by nature, Yiliang Gastrodia Elata is large, thick, plump, semi-transparent, solid without hollow centers, and is often referred to as "Yunnan Gastrodia Elata."

　　Yiliang is the core area of the national standard "Geographical Indication Product – Zhaotong Gastrodia Elata" and also one of the major counties in China's Gastrodia Elata industry. Gastrodia Elata comes from Zhaotong, but among Zhaotong’s Gastrodia, that from Xiaocaoba is particularly renowned. Xiaocaoba Gastrodia Elata is a "treasure" bestowed upon Yiliang by nature. It is large, thick, plump, semi-transparent, solid without hollow centers, and is often referred to as "Yunnan Gastrodia Elata."

　　In recent years, Yiliang County in Yunnan has transformed its resource advantages into economic strengths by developing the Gastrodia Elata industry as a key pillar of the local economy. According to statistics, by the end of 2013, the county had registered 4 Gastrodia Elata associations and 11 Gastrodia Elata planting professional cooperatives. A total of 20,500 new mu of Gastrodia Elata were planted, 31,740 mu were harvested, yielding 22.3616 million jin of fresh Gastrodia Elata, with a production value of 1.156 billion yuan. Based on the agricultural population at the end of 2013, this equated to a per capita income of 1,974.5 yuan for farmers. The retained planting area of Gastrodia Elata reached 39,000 mu, and the total area of artificial Gastrodia Elata fungal material forests amounted to 346,200 mu. To date, a development model combining “companies + associations + bases + farmers” has basically taken shape.