A daylily plantation in Yunzhou district is seen in Datong, Shanxi province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Datong city in North China's Shanxi province recently held a news conference on the development of its daylily (an edible flower) industry.

The news conference outlined the city's achievements in the development of the sector, its planning, brand building, marketing, expansion of the production and supply chain, as well as new product research and development.

Some 130 people attended the news conference and visited local daylily industry parks, plantations and daylily product manufacturers. Participants came from provincial, municipal and county-level agriculture departments and research institutions and they included experts and scholars from daylily-related companies, cooperatives, as well as journalists from more than 50 media agencies.

Currently, Datong has 17,400 hectares of daylily fields under cultivation, accounting for about 25 percent of the total daylily plantation areas in China. 

The city has developed more than 100 types of daylily dishes, beverages, food and other products with the annual output value of the entire industry estimated at 1.84 billion yuan ($285.18 million). 

Moreover, the Datong Daylily has been identified as one of the top 100 regional brands of agricultural products by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.