Hebei Shenzhou: the "Classics of Environmental Protection and Wealth" of small Earthworms

Earthworms, once highly praised by Darwin, are now trying their best in the treatment of environmental pollution in rural areas of Hebei Province because of their characteristics of consuming livestock and poultry manure through their own intestines and promoting soil improvement.

Walking into the Zhongxiang Earthworm farming Professional Cooperative in Shenzhou City, Hebei Province, hundreds of mu of land are neatly lined with piles of cow dung, inside which are earthworms that are decomposing cow dung and working hard to grow.

Ding Hanzhi, a farmer, is picking up earthworms in the field. She and her wife are responsible for raising 54 rows of earthworms on more than 10 mu of land. She spread plastic sheeting on the ridges of the fields, shoveled the degraded cow dung onto the plastic sheet with a dung fork, scraped layers of cow dung and let earthworms come out. "the cow dung has changed from a lump to a fine grain, indicating that the degradation is complete and earthworms can be raised. Generally, a crop can be produced every 20 days, and each row can produce 200 jin of earthworms."

Random accumulation of feces, pungent taste, sewage cross-flow, which is a common scene of many rural livestock and poultry farms, not only seriously affect the rural environment, but also cause certain pollution to the atmosphere, groundwater and so on. "after digestion and absorption in the intestines of earthworms, cow dung becomes' earthworm dung', which basically has no bad smell, and there is also a way out for the faecal problem that gives farmers a headache." Ma Ligong, head of the cooperative, said.

Not only that, "earthworm dung" is a very good organic fertilizer. Ma Ligong said that cow dung is generally alkaline, with a pH value of 9.5. After farmers ferment and mature cow dung, it can be used in farmland to remove some bacteria, but the pH value is unchanged. However, after becoming "earthworm dung", the pH value is between 6.8 and 7.2, which is neutral, and the content of microbial beneficial bacteria and trace elements is rich, which is of great help to soil improvement and the increase of agricultural products.

The author has learned that this cooperative currently has a farming area of more than 120 mu, can digest 14000 square meters of cow dung a year, and can produce 5000 tons of earthworm manure organic fertilizer. "Earthworm manure can be sold for 600 yuan a ton directly in bags, and 1200 yuan for special fertilizer processed by adding trace elements. At present, it is mainly used for growing vegetables, forest fruits, and so on." Ma Ligong said.

In addition to environmental benefits, earthworms themselves can bring considerable economic benefits. Earthworm is called "earthworm" in traditional Chinese medicine, and its extract can be used to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. "the cooperative produces 200 tons of earthworms a year, 80% of which is sold to pharmaceutical factories, and a kilogram can be sold for 14 to 15 yuan. Others are sold to the aquaculture industry, and the chain of the earthworm industry is very long. " Ma Ligong said.

"it is best for earthworms to eat cow dung, as well as pig manure and chicken manure." Shenzhou is a key city for livestock and poultry breeding, with about 20, 000 cattle, more than 7 million laying hens and more than 350000 pigs, producing a huge amount of livestock and poultry manure every year. Ma Ligong is thinking about how to expand the scale of earthworm farming and constantly extend the industrial chain.

"turning waste into treasure, resource regeneration and environment-friendly are the characteristics of the earthworm breeding industry, which has a great development prospect in the important period of environmental protection in our country." Ma Ligong is full of confidence in the earthworm industry. He said that in addition to the treatment of pollution caused by livestock and poultry breeding, some places have tried to use earthworms to treat municipal solid waste and sewage treatment plant sludge.