To ensure and share the service value of forest ecosystems, Taiwan has promoted policies for developing understory economies suited to local conditions. In 2019, the government formulated the Review Guidelines for Understory Economic Management and Use. This opened indigenous reserved lands, private forests, and leased national forest lands to approved applicants wishing to manage forest by-products beneath the forest canopy.

Taiwan’s agricultural sector compiled research and established technical standards for understory economies, requiring such activities to maintain forest vegetation through cultivation methods that avoid herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers.

Medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms dominate the sector

As of mid-2024, approved understory economy products include log-grown shiitake and wood ear mushrooms, marbled jewel orchids (Anoectochilus formosanus Hayata), forest honey and other bee products, Taiwan camellia (Camellia formosensis), ma lan (Strobilanthes formosanus), and tian xian guo (Ficus formosana Maxim.).

Forestry operators can utilize the ecological characteristics within their forest lands to cultivate shade-tolerant forest by-products beneath the canopy—medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms among them—without compromising land conservation, tree growth, or triggering natural disasters. This agroforestry approach supplements their income.