Oil-Yielding Peony Industry in China: A Major Move in Building …
289
requires simple management practices such as weeding and fertilization and does
not need rotation for thirty to fifty years. Therefore, growing oil-yielding peony can
save labour, time, and cost and befits the actual situation of rural areas.
3. Oil-yielding peony features high output and oil yields and can provide safe
and healthy edible oils to help ensure national food security
In 2018, China consumed a total of 38.496 million tons of edible oils, of which
only 11.928 million tons were extracted from home-grown oilseed, indicating a gap
of 26.568 million tons. In the same year, China imported 8.087 million tons of edible
vegetable oils and 94.489 million tons of edible oilseeds, spending over USD 50
billion in foreign currency. Its edible oil self-sufficiency rate dropped from 60% in
2000 to 31% in 2018, well below the national crop security line, and the rate tends
to decline further.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has reiterated that we should always have control
over our own food supply and be self-sufficient in food supply. The woody oil industry
is a traditional industry in China and an important source of healthy and high-quality
edible vegetable oils. Compared with other oil plants, oil-yielding peony features
high output and oil yields and can turn out 40 kg of high-end edible oils per mu
of land. Moreover, it thrives in partial shade and can be interplanted with other
woody oil plants such as shiny-leaved yellowhorn, purpleblow maple, and tea oil
camellia. To fill China’s edible oil gap of 26.568 million tons in 2018, we only need
to interplant oil-yielding peony with shiny-leaved yellowhorn on 379 million mu of
land (an average of 30 kg of edible oil per mu).
4. Peony seed oil is nutritious and can help improve people’s health
As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th CPC National
Congress, a healthy population is a key mark of a prosperous nation and a strong
country, and we should initiate a food safety strategy to ensure that people have peace
of mind about what they’re putting on their plates. People now have higher requirements on the quality of edible oils in the hope of living a long, healthy life. Currently,
nutritionists at home and abroad believe that the content of unsaturated fatty acids in
edible oils, especially alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), is one of the determinants for the
quality of edible oils.
The content of unsaturated fatty acids in peony seed oil exceeds 92%, where area
percentage of ALA is above 43%. ALA is an important component of human brain
cells and tissue cells and an indispensable polyunsaturated fatty acid that cannot be
synthesized or replaced within the human body, hence known as “blood nutrient,”
“vitamin F,” and “plant DHA.” The World Health Organization and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly issued a statement in 1993 to
promote the adequate intake of ALA worldwide.
In 2014, Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT), an internationally renowned
American academic journal, published a paper titled α-Linolenic Acid: Nutraceutical, Pharmacological and Toxicological Evaluation, which was indexed in the
Science Citation Index (SCI). As the paper points out, ALA is an essential fatty
289
requires simple management practices such as weeding and fertilization and does
not need rotation for thirty to fifty years. Therefore, growing oil-yielding peony can
save labour, time, and cost and befits the actual situation of rural areas.
3. Oil-yielding peony features high output and oil yields and can provide safe
and healthy edible oils to help ensure national food security
In 2018, China consumed a total of 38.496 million tons of edible oils, of which
only 11.928 million tons were extracted from home-grown oilseed, indicating a gap
of 26.568 million tons. In the same year, China imported 8.087 million tons of edible
vegetable oils and 94.489 million tons of edible oilseeds, spending over USD 50
billion in foreign currency. Its edible oil self-sufficiency rate dropped from 60% in
2000 to 31% in 2018, well below the national crop security line, and the rate tends
to decline further.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has reiterated that we should always have control
over our own food supply and be self-sufficient in food supply. The woody oil industry
is a traditional industry in China and an important source of healthy and high-quality
edible vegetable oils. Compared with other oil plants, oil-yielding peony features
high output and oil yields and can turn out 40 kg of high-end edible oils per mu
of land. Moreover, it thrives in partial shade and can be interplanted with other
woody oil plants such as shiny-leaved yellowhorn, purpleblow maple, and tea oil
camellia. To fill China’s edible oil gap of 26.568 million tons in 2018, we only need
to interplant oil-yielding peony with shiny-leaved yellowhorn on 379 million mu of
land (an average of 30 kg of edible oil per mu).
4. Peony seed oil is nutritious and can help improve people’s health
As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th CPC National
Congress, a healthy population is a key mark of a prosperous nation and a strong
country, and we should initiate a food safety strategy to ensure that people have peace
of mind about what they’re putting on their plates. People now have higher requirements on the quality of edible oils in the hope of living a long, healthy life. Currently,
nutritionists at home and abroad believe that the content of unsaturated fatty acids in
edible oils, especially alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), is one of the determinants for the
quality of edible oils.
The content of unsaturated fatty acids in peony seed oil exceeds 92%, where area
percentage of ALA is above 43%. ALA is an important component of human brain
cells and tissue cells and an indispensable polyunsaturated fatty acid that cannot be
synthesized or replaced within the human body, hence known as “blood nutrient,”
“vitamin F,” and “plant DHA.” The World Health Organization and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly issued a statement in 1993 to
promote the adequate intake of ALA worldwide.
In 2014, Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT), an internationally renowned
American academic journal, published a paper titled α-Linolenic Acid: Nutraceutical, Pharmacological and Toxicological Evaluation, which was indexed in the
Science Citation Index (SCI). As the paper points out, ALA is an essential fatty