"arch" a way to start a business like an earthworm

"Don't underestimate them. Darwin called them the most valuable animals on earth; in agriculture, they have the laudatory names of 'living ploughs' and 'biological ploughs'; and traditional Chinese medicine calls them 'earth dragons'." In the park of Wali Company in Linzi District, Shandong Province, the person in charge, Liu Fang, is filling rows of breeding beds with dung and straw. Then she gently peeled away the dark soil, revealing bright red earthworms. "although earthworms are small, they eat an astonishing amount. Earthworms in an acre of land can eat 1000 tons of straw a year. After the digestion of earthworms, feed such as straw becomes earthworm dung containing more than 200 kinds of microorganisms. " Liu Fang said.

In 2001, after graduating from university with her boyfriend Feng Ning, Liu Fang started a decoration company and accumulated the "first bucket of gold" after several years of hard work. In 2009, the couple chose to set up a coal preparation plant in Ningxia. In 2010, the two encountered the "cold winter" of the industry, lost the wealth they had accumulated over the years, and returned to Linzi's hometown empty-handed.

After the ups and downs of the sea of commerce, the two dared not to do it easily, and worked at home all day with some flowers and plants to "heal". But before long, the originally luxuriant flowers are like frost-beaten eggplant. Feng Ning learned that this is due to the lack of nutrients in the potted soil, which can improve the nutritional structure of the soil through earthworm dung and make the plants more "sturdy." Sure enough, the lethargic flowers soon became energetic after the application of earthworm dung. "it's amazing that earthworm dung has such a great effect!" The young couple can't sit still and are going to raise earthworms to cultivate earthworm dung.

At first, the two bought more than 200 small earthworms and fed them with kitchen waste in a box. Gradually, the flowers raised at home could not "eat" so much earthworm dung, so they gave them to their friends and relatives to grow flowers, and everyone reflected good results after using them.

The young couple vaguely explored a way to start a business from earthworms. "while you are young, why not 'arch' an entrepreneurial road like earthworms?" In early 2013, the two rented an acre of land on the outskirts of Linzi District and started a business again. Liu Fang, who had never been under the ground, and her husband began a busy farming day with the scorching sun above their heads and stepping on cow dung. "I was dirty and smelly all day, not to mention how suffocated I was at that time." Liu Fang recalled.

In order to attract customers, the couple raised the seedlings bought at 8 yuan per jin and took out at 9.8 yuan, which is much lower than the price in the fishing market. With the gradual opening of the market and the continuous enrichment of breeding experience, the young couple felt that the future road was suddenly clear and decided to expand the scale.

Huangcheng Town is a well-known vegetable growing town, with more than 70 large and small vegetable cooperatives, more than 30 leading enterprises, more than 10 large farms and more than 60,000 vegetable sheds. After picking tomatoes and zucchini, the remaining vegetable leaves and straw become a headache of garbage, affecting the environment. As the "guardian of soil environment", earthworms like to eat vegetable leaves, straw and livestock and poultry manure most. The two men crushed the straw collected by a machine and stirred it with cow dung at the ratio of 7:3. In just over 20 days, a pile of livestock and poultry manure and straw could be turned into earthworm dung by earthworms.

Liu Fang said that small earthworms eat an amazing amount of food and can consume feed equal to their own weight every day, which not only completely solves the problem of vegetable waste disposal that has plagued Huangcheng town for many years, but also produces advanced organic fertilizer. After a trial, agricultural expert Xu Xiaopeng told Liu Fang an exciting piece of news: "one jin of earthworm dung can hold at least 10 jin of farm manure."

They also learned that in addition to producing earthworm dung, earthworms themselves have a wide range of uses. Because it is rich in animal protein, earthworms are used as feed for poultry breeding, the market price of duck eggs fed with earthworms is as high as 3 yuan, and lumbrokinase can be extracted for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Seeing the vast "money" scene, in May 2014, Liu Fang and her husband Feng Ning rented 400 mu of land and set up Wali Earthworm breeding Company. has undertaken the Ministry of Agriculture cleaner production technology demonstration project, Shandong Agricultural Department of cultivated land quality improvement and straw comprehensive utilization project, Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Department agricultural waste comprehensive utilization project and other national, provincial and municipal projects, received support funds of more than 3 million yuan.

"since the use of earthworm dung, my tomatoes have not only increased production, but also been put on the market ahead of time, and the taste is much better. There are almost no dead plants in the greenhouse." Tomato grower Fu Jiancun said.

Talking about the economic benefits of earthworm manure, Liu Fang calculated an account for the Economic Daily: there is no shortage of straw in Huangcheng Town all the year round, and there is almost no cost, and the collection price of cow dung is about 80 yuan per cubic meter. the price of earthworm manure is 1500 yuan per cubic meter, producing 20, 000 cubic meters per year, with an output value of 30 million yuan.

"this is a green industry that benefits the country and the people, and we will continue to 'arch' out more splendor." Liu Fang said with deep feeling.