China's forest food production exceeds 200 million tons

China's forest food production exceeded 200 million metric tons last year, becoming the third most important agricultural product after grain and vegetables, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said on Friday, the 13th International Day of Forests.

Spanning more than 3.4 billion mu (about 227 million hectares) of forests with over 8,000 woody plant species, China has implemented the "macro food perspective" — which means seeking food supplies from outside conventional areas of agriculture — developing economic forests and under-forest economy, over the past decade, the administration said.

The country has built forest and grass ecological projects, and established economic forest production bases, thus promoting the growth and quality of forest food production. Last year, the total output value of the national forestry and grass industry reached 10.17 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), a 9.6 percent increase from the previous year, the administration added.

Forest food refers to food produced in forests or woodland, including edible fruits, flowers, leaves, and non-timber forest products such as parasitic food and epiphytes. It is categorized into economic forests, under-forest economic products, and indirect food that can be used as livestock feed, according to the administration.

The national economic forest planting area covers 46.7 million hectares with an annual production value of more than 2 trillion yuan. Under-forest economic activities utilize an area of 40 million hectares, generating an annual production value of about 1 trillion yuan. Among these, a wide variety of fruits are grown on 13.3 million hectares, yielding about 190 million tons.

In addition, the supply of woody oil products like tea oil and olive oil is becoming increasingly diverse. Last year, new plantings and low-yield forest transformations for oil tea trees covered 475,000 hectares, with tea oil output of 1 million tons.

Meanwhile, ecotourism continues to gain popularity, with 2.76 billion such trips made last year, a 9.1 percent increase from the previous year, according to the administration.