After grains and vegetables, can we also “ask for food from the forest”?

The autumn breeze brings the fragrance of fruits and vegetables. Statistics from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration show that my country's annual output of forest food exceeds 200 million tons, and the per capita output of forest food is about 130 kilograms, ranking among the top in the world. Forest food has become the third most important agricultural product in my country after grain and vegetables.

What exactly is such an important forest food? What forest foods are there in Henan? How to "get food from the forest"? Recently, the reporter interviewed relevant forestry experts.

What is forest food?

On September 26, at the Mengzhou base of the Economic Forestry Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, yellow persimmons hung on the branches.

"Persimmon is a typical forest food and belongs to woody food," said Zhu Jingle, a researcher at the Economic Forestry Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry. "In addition to the well-known fruits such as peaches, apples, and grapes, oil crops such as walnuts and oil-tea camellia, vegetables such as toon and edible fungi, beverages such as tea and coffee, and spices such as pepper and cinnamon are also forest foods."

Conceptually, forest food is food produced by forests or woodlands, including edible fruits, flowers, leaves, branches, bark, roots, lipids, parasites, epiphytes and other non-wood forest products. Specifically, forest food is divided into three categories: economic forest, economic products under forests, and indirect food. Forest fungi, forest medicines, forest vegetables, forest fruits, and under-forest farming all fall into the category of forest food.

The diversity of forest food gives forests great potential to become "another granary." "Forest 'granaries' can broaden the sources of food supply, enrich the nutritional variety of the table, and help increase food supply capacity, build a diversified food supply system, and ensure national food security," said Zhu Jingle.

What are the forest foods in Henan?

The mountain road winds up to the depths of the mountain. Amidst the clouds and mist, we arrive at the Wuma Oil Tea Industrial Park in Xinxian County, Xinyang City.

Camellia oleifera is an important forest food in Henan. Now is the season for picking camellia oleifera, and the tea garden is crowded with people.

The superior location provides Henan with a natural advantage in developing forest food. "Henan is located in the Central Plains, with a climate that combines the characteristics of the north and south, and four distinct seasons. Mountains and hills account for more than 40% of the area, and the surface soil is uniform in texture, loose in structure, and easy to cultivate, which is the material basis for the development of forestry and fruit industry," said Song Yansheng, deputy director of the Provincial Forestry Technical Work Station.

According to statistics, Henan has 16.19 million mu of edible forest products, of which 11.64 million mu bear fruit, with an annual output of 8.1 billion kilograms, an annual output value of more than 70 billion yuan, and more than 2.8 million employees. It has become an important pillar industry for Henan to achieve green prosperity and rural revitalization. Edible forest products such as apples and dates from Lingbao, apricots from Mianchi, kiwis from Xixia, oil tea from Xinyang, crisp pears from Ningling, and walnuts from Lushi are well-known throughout the country.

How to “get food from the forest”

From the forest to the dining table, the development of forest food has broadened the food source and promoted the development of local industries. In the exhibition hall of Henan Funiu Baijunyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. located in Xixia County, the "Hometown of Chinese Shiitake Mushrooms", there are a wide variety of products made around shiitake mushrooms.

Extend the industrial chain and promote industrialization. At present, Xixia County has formed a complete industrial system of "upper base, middle market, and downstream backbone leading export enterprises", realizing the integration of production, sales, processing and export. Deep-processed products such as mushroom sauce, mushroom crisps, and mushroom soy sauce are widely praised by the market.

"The forest economy is an industry that enriches the people. It is connected to a beautiful ecology on one end and to rural revitalization on the other. To 'ask for food from the forest', we must adapt to local conditions, tailor our approach, and develop high-quality varieties based on regional characteristics. At the same time, we must continuously extend the industrial chain, transform the advantages of forest resources into industrial advantages, develop forestry products that are diversified, nutritious and healthy, convenient and fast, and constantly stimulate the supply potential of forest food." said a relevant person in charge of the Science and Technology Department of the Provincial Forestry Bureau.