Gastrodia elata festival takes place in Nanming

The First China (Guizhou) Gastrodia Elata Festival is held in Nanming on Nov 7. [Photo/WeChat of Nanming]

The First China (Guizhou) Gastrodia Elata Festival was held in Nanming district in Guiyang, the capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province, on Nov 7. 

Guizhou is a major production area for Gastrodia Elata, commonly known as potato orchids.

This year's festival featured one main host site in Nanming district and another six branch venues in Guizhou's Qixingguan district, Dafang county, Dejiang county, Leishan county, Liping county and Zhenyuan county, which are the main growing areas for potato orchids in the province. The venues were each connected by video link. 

The festival was held to promote potato orchids produced in Guizhou and improve the province's influence in the field of Chinese medicine.

Activities during the festival included product promotions, exhibitions and sales, as well as an initiative to publicize the health benefits of potato orchids.

The Guizhou government is keen to promote the growing of potato orchids for use in traditional medicines. 

As of the end of September 2021, 66 counties and districts in the province were growing the plant, with a total wild planting area measuring 283,000 mu (18,866.66 hectares), ranking first in the country. 

Guizhou is leading the country in terms of variety selection, breeding of improved varieties, and imitating wild planting technologies.

So far, there are more than 190 companies engaged in the cultivation and processing of potato orchids in the province. They have registered more than 20 trademarks, obtained 14 drug production approvals and three health food production approvals.