China is currently one of the largest importers of oilseeds; in order to solve this problem, it is going to introduce a new crop — chufu.
Chufa, also called tiger nut, produces a high yield of oil as well as starch. In addition, its powder can be used to prepare gluten-free noodles.
Finally, chufa contains a fairly high amount of sugar and protein, making it a very nutritious food.
This is an annual herbaceous oilseed crop that is not yet very popular in China, but the government is going to change that.
Chufa is currently approved as part of a strategic plan to move away from oilseed imports. Plus, this crop is perfectly adapted to drought, so its yield should not decrease significantly even if the weather conditions are not the most favorable.
It is estimated that from 1 hectare of chufa you can get 7.5 tons of crop, which is 2.5 tons of starch, 1.8 tons of oil and over 1 ton of sugar. In addition, this culture also contains protein.
Chufa has become one of the main points for strategically reducing dependence on imports for several reasons.
Firstly, it is its high yield and the ability to produce several types of products from the crop at once — including oil and noodles.
Secondly, it is an opportunity to grow chufa in the same fields where other types of plants, including high-margin ones, are currently growing.
Thanks to this, Chinese farmers have the opportunity not to find additional areas, which are not available in every region, for chufa, but to plant already sown fields with it, resulting in two harvests at once.
It is noteworthy that chufa performs best when grown together with corn and soybeans, and these are precisely the types of crops that are most actively cultivated in China today.
Currently, experiments on growing chufa together with other plants are actively underway in the Xinjiang province, which has become one of the leading Chinese regions in terms of agriculture.
It is planned that in the near future mass cultivation of chufa may begin in other regions of the country.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture first mentioned that chufu should be promoted in suitable regions in its agricultural development plan for 2016-2020.
In 2022, the department released another document that emphasized the importance of increasing oil production, since it is of strategic importance for building China’s food security.
