Agricultural officials from abroad visit the mushroom market in Qingyuan county of Lishui, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zgqy.zj.cn]

Agricultural officials from 14 countries including Tanzania, Morocco and Algeria visited Qingyuan of Lishui, Zhejiang province on Sept 17 to learn about the development of the county's mushroom industry.

Qingyuan is renowned as being a source of high quality mushrooms at home and abroad and is seen as being one of the centers of mushroom growing in China, due to its favorable ecological environment and abundant forest resources for mushroom plantation. For the last two years, the county government has been working on the construction of a characteristic town themed on its mushroom culture with the aim of better promoting the industry.

The visit, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the South-South Cooperation, included a trip to important agricultural sites in Qingyuan such as plantation bases, a museum and a market for mushrooms.

Aitlhaj Abderrahmane from Morocco was amazed by the array of different kinds of mushrooms at the museum and impressed by the wealth of information on display about mushrooms. He said people should protect the mushroom culture in Qingyuan as it is of great significance to the county's sustainable development.

During the visit, the foreign officials raised many questions about the planting techniques of mushrooms and shared their experiences of protecting and spreading agricultural heritages with Qingyuan officials.

Xu Ming, director of the Center for International Cooperation Service of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the foreign officials gave a lot of positive comments on the growing process of mushrooms in Qingyuan, especially their sustainable production and the county's emphasis on food safety.

Officials take a close look at the mushrooms produced in Qingyuan county of Lishui, Zhejiang. [Photo/zgqy.zj.cn]

Foreign agricultural officials visit a plantation base for mushrooms in Qingyuan county of Lishui, Zhejiang. [Photo/zgqy.zj.cn]