Southwest China's Guizhou Province has seen its pepper acreage reach 5.45 million mu (about 363,333 hectares), ranking first in China, said the province's pepper industry association.

It is estimated that the annual pepper yield of the province will reach 7 million tonnes this year, with an output value of 23 billion yuan (about 3.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The province has a total of 973 pepper product companies, also ranking first in the country.

Eating hot peppers dates back to more than 400 years ago in Guizhou. In recent years, the pepper industry has played an important role in poverty alleviation in the province.