China News Service, Dafang, Guizhou, October 4 (Reporter Liu Meiling) During the National Day holiday, a leading Gastrodia elata company located in Dafang County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, has completed 20% of sales orders from the Greater Bay Area. "Customers must first recognize the place of origin and brand before discussing orders," said Wen Jingzhi, deputy general manager of the company.
Gastrodia elata, which grows deep in the mountains at an altitude of 2,000 meters, relies on a series of measures such as the construction of a full-chain standard system and standardized management of geographical indications, and its industrial development level continues to rise. Each piece of fresh hemp has been intensively processed into more than 30 products such as Gastrodia wine, Gastrodia capsules, Gastrodia powder, Gastrodia tablets, Gastrodia bird's nests, Gastrodia mooncakes, and Gastrodia gummies. They go out of the mountains and into the city, further connecting the Bay Area and connecting overseas.
The picture shows the artificial wild organic gastrodia elata planting base under the forest in Dafang County, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Qian
Today, the gastrodia gastrodia industry has become the first characteristic pillar industry in Dafang County to enrich the people, and is also the core leading industry in promoting rural revitalization.
Dafang County is the core gastrodia gastrodia production area in northwest Guizhou. In 2008, it was rated as the "Hometown of Gastrodia Gastrodia in China"; in 2019, it was recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as the only "national regional gastrodia fine seed breeding base" in the country. In 2026, it was again rated as a "national regional fine gastrodia gastrodia seed breeding base" by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It has a unique industrial development foundation.
Data shows that the planting area of Dafang Gastrodia has expanded from 40,000 acres in 2023 to 83,200 acres in 2026, and 15 leading enterprises and 54 professional cooperatives have been cultivated (302 entities of various types are engaged in Gastrodia cultivation and management in the county, among which There are 18 operating entities with production capacity of "two bacteria", 14 primary processing entities of Gastrodia elata, and 6 advanced processing enterprises of Gastrodia elata), which has driven more than 10,000 farmers and 320,000 people to work in Dafang County, and the average annual household income has increased by more than 3,000 yuan. In 2025, the comprehensive output value of Gastrodia elata in Dafang County will exceed 2.1 billion yuan, and a complete industrial chain from strain breeding to intensive processing will be established. The trading volume of Dafang Tianma Trading Center has stabilized at 2 to 3 tons, and the results of industrial scale and intensification continue to show.
"In the past, most of the sources of Dafang Gastrodia elata were self-propagated, with inconsistent standards, mixed market sources, uneven planting standardization levels, and obvious bottlenecks in industrial development." Yang Hujun, member of the party group and deputy director of the Dafang County Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, said frankly.
In order to solve the pain points of industrial development, in August 2023, the Dafang County Market Supervision Bureau organized the preparation and release of 10 Dafang Gastrodia elata group standards, covering the production environment, "two bacteria and one species", planting management and protection, harvesting and processing. It was officially implemented in September of the same year, realizing that all aspects of Gastrodia elata production have standards and regulations to follow, and laying a solid foundation for industrial quality.
At the same time, the local market supervision department has improved the brand management system and issued 7 supporting brand building regulations, detailing the use of regional public signs, product label management, brand value improvement, etc., comprehensively standardizing the operation of public brands in the Dafang Tianma region, and polishing the business cards of characteristic industries.
"Expanding the scale, cultivating the main body, and increasing output value of the Gastrodia elata industry is by no means a simple expansion of quantity. Quality construction runs through the entire process of industrial development and is the core confidence for the industry to achieve leap-forward development." Yang Hujun said.
As the standard system of the entire chain continues to improve and the shortcomings of the industrial system are accelerated, the Gastrodia elata industry has achieved multiple iterative upgrades: from farmers' scattered seeds to a standardized and large-scale underforest imitation wild planting base; from the sale of a single raw material, it has extended to build an integrated industrial chain of primary processing and intensive processing, and has developed and launched more than 30 terminal products, effectively increasing the added value of products.
Yang Hujun introduced that Dafang Tianma is a national geographical indication product and a national agricultural brand product. In September 2025, it will apply for a national quality certification service pilot project to strengthen enterprises, strengthen chains, and strengthen counties. The industrial form has also expanded from the traditional Chinese medicinal materials industry to an integrated industry integrating medicine and food, health and wellness, and rural culture and tourism.
In August 2026, at the Guangdong-Guizhou Cooperation Greater Bay Area Promotion Conference, Guizhou Kowloon Gastrodia, the leading gastrodia enterprise in Dafang County, successfully signed a contract with Hong Kong Wanmeng International to finalize an annual export order of 50 million yuan for luxury brand Gastrodia, American Ginseng and Wolfberry Wine to Hong Kong. This signing marks Dafang Gastrodia's success in opening up access to Hong Kong's high-end market and taking a key step in deepening its presence in the Bay Area and exploring overseas markets.
In the next step, Dafang County will rely on the advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s window to open to the outside world, continue to delve into Hong Kong’s high-end consumer market, use Hong Kong as the fulcrum, steadily expand overseas markets, and let Dafang Gastrodia, a treasure from the mountains, move to a broader international stage.
