Although Amorphophallus konjac has been cultivated and eaten in China for nearly 2000 years, its industrial development in China is only 20 years. In the early 1980s, the yield of fresh taro in Japan was reduced due to the disaster, and the imported raw materials increased from 1982 to 1984, of which 1984 reached 3790 tons of taro horn. A large number of foreign businessmen and middlemen went deep into the southwest mountainous area of China to buy konjac, which made local officials, scientific and technological circles, foreign trade departments, local products companies and farmers begin to re-recognize the value of konjac. Previously, it was unremarkable, but now it has both economic benefits and export earnings, and they have cut into konjac business from different angles.

Among many people who pay attention to konjac crops, Professor Liu Peiying of Southwest University is the most important representative. As early as 1979, Professor Liu Peiying of the former Southwest Agricultural College undertook the task of compiling "Amorphophallus konjac" in Vegetable Cultivation in China. At the same time, she learned that Japan was looking for the "Golden River taro horn", which prompted her to personally visit Yibin and pingshan county, the distribution centers of konjac, and suggested that cities, counties and Sichuan should resume and develop konjac production. Subsequently, her konjac research and academic activities were also carried out. From 198 1, graduate students were arranged to do konjac research continuously. 1984, pingshan county, Sichuan cooperated with Japan to introduce mortar pulverizer in compensation trade, and the products were exclusively sold to Japan. Although this machine is out of date (serious noise and dust pollution), the quality of refined powder produced is still good, which can be used for reference in the early production of refined powder in China. 1985 Tiantai Agricultural New Technology Development Company of Chengdu Institute of Telecommunications Engineering cooperated with Zhuhai and foreign businessmen to introduce production lines to process food from Japan, and the products were sold back to Japan. 1985, Southwest Agricultural College applied for the project of "Research on Comprehensive Development and Utilization of Konjac" of the State Science and Technology Commission, developed more than 20 kinds of Konjac foods and beverages, proposed wet processing and dry processing of refined powder with organic solvents, and cooperated with 73 17 Research Institute of the former Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics to develop MJJO- 1 Konjac Refiner, which is the most important main equipment in China's Konjac industrial chain. Subsequently, the Sichuan Provincial Planning and Economic Committee established more than 20 konjac flour enterprises in Sichuan Province through bidding. Some counties outside Sichuan Province have also established a number of enterprises by purchasing domestic or imported konjac flour, which has supported the most critical processing link in the development of konjac industry. Subsequently, the baking technology and equipment of konjac gradually formed a combination of Chinese and western, the export and domestic consumption of konjac refined powder expanded, and the development of processing industry in turn promoted the development of planting industry. 1986, the planting area of konjac in Sichuan province reached 6700 hectares, about 13300 hectares in China. In this way, the production-processing-sales channels are basically formed, and the konjac industry in China is also basically formed.

Except that a very small amount of konjac is ground with fresh taro and cooked with lime to make edible konjac tofu, its commercial primary processing products and end products must have corresponding special machinery and equipment. Therefore, in the late 1980s, the 73 17 Research Institute of the Ministry of Aeronautics and Astronautics separated three manufacturers of konjac processing electromechanical equipment, specializing in the production of konjac fine powder machinery. On the basis of MJJO-I machine, Type II to V has been continuously improved and introduced. In the mid-1990s, the Konjac Research Institute of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province introduced a grinding machine to match with a fine powder machine, which achieved remarkable results in improving the quality of fine powder. Since 1990s, Sichuan Agricultural Machinery Research and Technology Design Institute, Wuhan Scientific Design Institute of the former Ministry of Internal Trade and Chengdu Kelei Konjac Processing Technology Research Institute have listed the development of konjac processing equipment as an important project. Tianjin Tianfengyu Food Technology Co., Ltd. develops and produces konjac cakes and bionic food manufacturing machinery. Since 1990s, the baking of fresh taro has turned to mobile bag equipment, which greatly improved the quality of taro chips. In the early 1990s, China began to study the technology and equipment of ethanol purification of refined powder. In the middle and late stage, the corresponding equipment was gradually improved and put into production on a large scale, including the direct production and purification of konjac powder with ordinary refined powder or fresh taro. Through the continuous research and improvement of scientific and technical personnel, the price of domestic equipment is much lower than that of imported equipment, and the quality of the products produced has entered the advanced ranks, which has promoted the development of konjac industry in China.

The konjac industry in China was gradually formed in the mid-1980s. Although its foreign trade has been diversified with the gradual improvement of product quality and the gradual formation of European and American markets for more than a decade, it was still hit hard by the Japanese market in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which led to the once prosperous refined flour processing industry "three ups and three downs" and the shrinking of its production base. However, the konjac industry is still persistently pursuing the cause of konjac, drawing lessons and going forward bravely. The result is to improve the marketing strategy every time and improve the product quality by science and technology, so as to survive and develop. Especially after the Asian financial crisis, the price of konjac raw materials kept falling, reaching 6.5438+0.8 million yuan per ton in 2000. Since then, due to vigorously exploring the domestic market and achieving good results, the konjac industry in China has truly realized the situation of "basing itself on the domestic market and striving for export", and the price of raw materials has been rising continuously, reaching 45,000 yuan/ton in 2008, making the whole konjac industry more stable than before the Asian financial crisis.

In a word, China was the first country to use konjac for medicine and cultivation, but the konjac industry was formed later than Japan, and the industry was formed faster than Japan because of absorbing the experience and lessons of Japanese konjac industry. China has the advantages of wide planting area, large area, rich germplasm resources and low labor cost, and its development trend will be stronger.