Can leech farming make money? Analysis of farming benefits and prospects

The leech is a traditional special medicinal aquatic animal in China, growing and reproducing in inland freshwater waters. Its dried products, after being steeped, are used in traditional Chinese medicine, with effects such as treating stroke, high blood pressure, clearing blood stasis, amenorrhea, and bruises and injuries. It was already recorded in the "Shennong Bencao Jing", and at present artificial farming has also been achieved in southern China. Let us take a look below at whether leech farming can make money!

Does leech farming have prospects?

Leech farming has prospects. Historically, leeches were mainly obtained by natural catching. Due to the abuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in recent years and the pollution of the environment by the "three wastes" of industry and agriculture, wild natural resources have sharply declined. At the same time, with the in-depth development of the medicinal value of leeches, the market demand potential is huge. Since 2000, the price of leeches has risen greatly year after year: 150 yuan in 2002, 160 yuan in 2003, 170 yuan in 2004, 180 yuan in 2005, 190 yuan in 2006, 200 yuan in 2007, 230 yuan in 2008, rising to 380 yuan in 2009, then soaring to 740 yuan in 2010, and by 2011 it had soared to 800-820 yuan. Therefore, developing leech farming has very broad prospects.

Can leech farming make money?

1. Cost: The cost of leech farming is calculated based on a farming area of 5 mu. Land rental is about 0.3-0.4 ten thousand yuan, base excavation is about 0.4 ten thousand yuan, escape-prevention netting is about 0.25 ten thousand yuan, feed costs are about 0.3 ten thousand yuan, farmyard manure is about 0.05 ten thousand yuan, 250 kg of seed leeches is about 8 ten thousand yuan, management fees are about 1.2 ten thousand yuan, disinfection is about 0.02 ten thousand yuan, and water and electricity fees are about 0.15 ten thousand yuan, for a total investment of about 10 ten thousand yuan.

2. Profit: Leeches are hermaphroditic and breed 3-4 times a year. Each seed leech can breed 72 commercial leeches per year. Each kilogram of live leeches contains about 150 leeches, and 7 kg of live leeches can be processed into 1 kg of dried leeches. At a market price of 400 yuan per kg, the annual output value of each seed leech is 27 yuan. For a farming area of 5 mu, with 25,000 seed leeches stocked, the annual output value is more than 650,000 yuan, and after deducting facilities, feed, and other costs, the net profit is around 500,000 yuan.

What advantages does leech farming have?

1. High and stable yield: Leeches are hermaphroditic animals, and every one of them can reproduce, with a high reproduction rate. Seed leeches reproduce more than 2 times each year, with no fewer than 70 offspring each time.

2. Simple technology: Leeches can be farmed by housewives and the elderly. It is only necessary to put in a certain amount of snails when releasing the seedlings and control the water quality well.

3. Obvious benefits: The farming feed for leeches is cheap and easy to obtain, and there is no need to specially feed them. One person can manage more than 10 mu, and the comprehensive benefit is about 7-10 times that of fish farming.

4. Multi-year returns: After leeches are introduced once, their natural reproduction can maintain production year after year, bringing returns for many years, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing costs and increasing benefits.

5. Unlimited scale: Leeches can be farmed on a large scale or in small-scale courtyard farming. They can be farmed in rice fields, or mixed-cultured with herbivorous fish and filter-feeding fish to improve benefits.