Sheyang Medicinal Herbs

Sheyang Medicinal Herbs

　　Yangma Township in Sheyang County, Jiangsu Province, is located on the North China Plain by the coast of the Yellow Sea, at 33.6°N latitude and 120.4°E longitude. It enjoys convenient transportation by water, land, and air. The Xin Yang River flows through the township, with Sheyang Port to the north, Yancheng Airport just 40 kilometers to the west, and the Yellow Sea approximately 20 kilometers to the east. It lies close to the national north-south transportation artery, National Highway 204, and is adjacent to the national-level Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve and the world’s only Milu Deer Nature Reserve. The township covers an area of 97 square kilometers, with 75,000 mu of arable land and a population of 32,000. Historically, it was primarily an agricultural township focused on grain and cotton cultivation.

Since the 1990s, faced with relatively low returns from grain and cotton, the township has leveraged the unique advantage of its thousand-mu “Hundred Herbs Garden,” aimed at establishing a medicinal herb industry, actively developed the market, optimized services, and accelerated development. This has effectively connected small-scale household production with the ever-changing larger market, leading to substantial growth in medicinal herb production in Yangma Township. Currently, the township cultivates over 50,000 mu of medicinal herbs, making it the largest medicinal herb planting base in East China. In 1997, it was awarded the title “Hometown of Chinese Medicinal Herbs” by the Natural Medicine Professional Committee of the China Society of Natural Resources. Meanwhile, Yangma Chrysanthemum Tea has been certified as “Green Food” by the China Green Food Development Center.

At present, the township grows nearly 200 varieties of medicinal herbs, with 30–50 varieties under regular cultivation. It has developed production advantages in more than 10 leading products, including white chrysanthemum, salvia miltiorrhiza, atractylodes macrocephala, angelica dahurica, scrophularia ningpoensis, astragalus membranaceus, isatis root, coix seed, eucommia ulmoides, ginkgo, deer antler, and tortoise shell. Among these, white chrysanthemum is the most prominent, with over 20,000 mu planted annually and dry chrysanthemum production exceeding 3,000 tons. It has become one of China’s largest chrysanthemum production bases.

While developing medicinal herb cultivation, the township has also actively established leading processing and sales enterprises. There are now one processing enterprise and one sales enterprise, each with annual output value exceeding ten million yuan and profits and taxes surpassing one million yuan. The main products—chrysanthemum series bagged tea and cassia seed beverages—have received positive feedback since their launch. At present, the total output, processing, and sales value of medicinal herbs in Yangma Township has reached 150 million yuan, with a net income of 75 million yuan. The per capita income derived from medicinal herb production has reached over 2,300 yuan, making it the primary industry for farmers to achieve prosperity. In terms of external expansion, sales windows have been set up in 25 provinces and cities across the country to distribute raw medicinal materials and products. In medicinal herb development, the township collaborates with higher education institutions such as Nanjing Agricultural University, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and China Pharmaceutical University. Experts provide on-site technical guidance for both raw medicinal material production and product processing. A series of products—including chrysanthemum bricks, chrysanthemum tea, and chrysanthemum beverages—have been developed. Recently, a premium canned cassia seed beverage has also been introduced.