Chongqing- More than 500 boxes of Polygonatum fine dried noodles were uploaded at the foot of Wuling Mountain in Chongqing, weighing 8,100 kilograms, and will be sold to South Africa and Australia recently for the first time.

Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County locates in the center zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. It is rich in unique delicacies, such as high-quality mountain treasure water, to ensure premium taste and freshness. Shizhu is also known as the hometown of Coptis Chinensis and chili peppers.

Polygonatum is a herb used in traditional medicine that can reduce blood glucose and lipid levels, regulate and enhance the immune system, and fight age.

Shizhu-made Polygonatum noodles comprise the medicinal effect of Polygonatum, other auxiliary materials, and the refined ratio of wheat flour appropriately. After mixing, leavening dough, drying, and molding, it presents high-strength, elastic, nutritious, and delicious Polygonatum fine dried noodles.

The Huaxi Village in Shizhu County has a history of planting Polygonatum for more than ten years. It used to be a scattered plant, but now it is produced on a large scale and under professional management.

However, how to expand the market and improve the added value of Polygonatum has become a problem for the local people.

"As a perennial herb, Polygonatum can be used as medicine and food, so why not we try exporting it?" said an official from Chongqing Customs District during a local survey.

Chongqing Customs District immediately set up a special team in Huaxi Village to provide technical and information resources and other services to the local government, enterprises, and farmers.

They started to guide enterprises to build noodles workshops according to export product standards, establish and enhance product quality management systems, and build a new production line according to international standards, with an annual production capacity of 2000 tons.

"As a township enterprise, we were blank in foreign trade," said Guo Qirui, general manager of Chongqing Huaxi Village Huangjing Noodle Industry Co., Ltd. "Chongqing Customs assisted us in solving a series of problems such as logistics, trade, and overseas marketing."

Over the past three years, the Polygonatum industry has been developed into a business card for local industry revitalization. Now, with the new production line, one kilogram of Polygonatum can be processed into seven kilograms of noodles.

Through deep processing and export, the added value of Polygonatum increased by more than 80%, bringing 10 million yuan (about 1.4 million U.S. dollars) of output value for the enterprise and 2,000 yuan of additional income for each household.

According to Guo, on September 6, enterprises of Chongqing's Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County contracted to export Polygonatum noodles, with a product value of 28 million yuan, on the China-Singapore (Chongqing) F&B Suppliers: Global Expansion Program, whereafter made deals with customers from Italy, Canada, and other countries.