Mushrooms traditionally collected from forests and now more cultivated have recently become the products of the fifth-largest agricultural sector in China. It was estimated that more than 25 million farmers in China are currently engaged in the collection, cultivation processing and marketing of mushrooms. The total value of mushroom products amounted to 149 billion RMB Yuan (24 billion USD) in 2011. The raw materials have expanded from a few hardwoods to a variety of woods and increasing more into agricultural residues and wastes. The average annual growth rate has been over 10% over the past 30 years in China. This paper describes the rapid growth of mushroom cultivation and its contribution to food security and rural sustainable development. The roles of bio-innovation, technological dissemination, and marketing are also examined. Mushrooms could potentially be very important in future food supplies and in new dimensions of sustainable agriculture and forestry.
Bamboo forests are fast growing and renewable resources, and their carbon sequestration potential has attracted wide attention. Bamboo can be used for multiple purposes. Land expectation value (LEV) was estimated for various moso bamboo management models using the Faustmann-Hartman formula. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to examine the impacts of carbon policy, interest rates, stem and shoots prices, and labour costs on LEV and management model choice. Two moso bamboo management models, one for stem production and another for stem and shoots production, were compared. Under current market conditions the estimated LEV per ha of stem bamboo plantations and for stem and shoots bamboo plantations were 48,454 and 51,292 CNY (Chinese Yuan. USD 1 = CNY 6.46 in year 2011) in the baseline year of 2011 respectively, and annual above-ground carbon sequestration potential of mature stands was 4.30 and 3.38 tons per ha, respectively. If carbon credits were available to growers, the LEV would increases and it seems likely farmers will be induced to expand the moso bamboo forested area, and convert some stem and shoots bamboo plantation into stem bamboo
China has been implementing one of the world's largest ecological rehabilitation projects, the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP), to improve its fragile and precarious environmental conditions. This paper measures the socioeconomic impacts of the NFPP using input-output (I-O) models. We find that the NFPP will expand the annual output of the forest sectors by 5.8 billion Yuan and the whole economy by 8.9 billion Yuan by 2010. Employment will increase by 0.84 million in the forest sectors and by 0.93 million in the whole economy. Associated with the enormous expansion of forest protection and management are huge contributions to mitigating water runoff, soil erosion, flooding, and biodiversity loss. The investments and adjustments are thus worthwhile, if the program is properly implemented. The challenges are to transform loggers into tree planters and forest managers and to ensure that the financial and institutional commitments by the local and national governments will be materialized.
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