How much investment does leech farming roughly require?

The leech is a traditional special medicinal aquatic animal in China, living in places such as rice fields, ditches and shallow polluted ponds. It has strong survival ability, is fond of sucking the blood of humans and livestock, moves very agilely, can swim in a wavy manner, and can also move in a looper-like fashion. In winter it often lies dormant in the wet mud near the shore without eating or moving. Let us take a look below at how much investment leech farming requires!
How much investment does leech farming require?
The main costs of leech farming are the cost of seedlings, land rental, digging the base, and building anti-escape nets. Taking a farming area of 5 mu as an example, the funds for land rental are about 5,000 yuan, digging the base is about 4,000 yuan, and the anti-escape net is about 3,000 yuan, so this part of the investment is about 12,000 yuan. In addition to this cost, farmers also need to farm bait, with the cost of purchasing raw materials at about 3,000 yuan. In addition, the most important thing in leech farming is naturally the breeding leeches, whose cost for 250 kg is about 80,000 yuan. Adding 12,000 yuan in management fees, 200 yuan in disinfection fees and a small amount of water and electricity fees, the initial investment is about 100,000 yuan.
How much money can leech farming earn?
The leech is hermaphroditic and cross-fertilizes, and every breeding leech can reproduce. Generally, a breeding leech reproduces 3 to 4 times a year, with an average annual egg production of 4, and each egg cocoon can hatch more than 20 young leeches, so each breeding leech can annually reproduce 72 commercial leeches. Each kilogram of live leeches contains about 150 individuals, and 7 kg of live leeches can be dried into 1 kg. At a market price of 400 yuan per kilogram, the annual output value of each breeding leech is 27 yuan. With 25,000 breeding leeches stocked in a farming area of 5 mu, the annual output value is more than 650,000 yuan, and after deducting facilities, bait and other costs, the net profit is about 500,000 yuan. If high-density, intensive production farming is adopted, the profit will be even higher.
What advantages does leech farming have?
1. Wide range of seed sources: The leech has a gentle temperament, with no phenomenon of cannibalism, and is distributed throughout the country.
2. Relatively fast growth: Leeches eat a lot and grow quickly, with investment in the same year and profit in the same year.
3. Simple management: Leech farming management is simple, and there is no problem even if food and water are not provided for three to five days.
4. Relatively high benefits: The benefits of leech farming are relatively high, with an output value of more than 30,000 yuan per mu.
Precautions for leech farming
1. Climate: In leech farming, attention must be paid to climate issues. For example, summer temperatures in the three northeastern provinces are not high, so if the southern Whitmania pigra is introduced there, the problems of a short growth cycle and individuals not growing large must be considered.
2. Soil quality: In leech farming, attention must be paid to soil quality issues. For example, reddish-brown soil containing too much iron is not suitable for building ponds, and areas with soil pH below 5 or above 9.5 are also not suitable for digging ponds.
3. Water quality: In leech farming, attention must be paid to water quality issues. The physicochemical standards of water quality include temperature, salinity, oxygen content, pH value, water color and fertility, and water sources that do not meet the regulations should be considered for the construction of water source treatment.
4. Site: In leech farming, attention must be paid to site issues. Choosing a suitable breeding site is the prerequisite for building a good breeding farm and raising leeches well. It must be considered carefully, and as far as possible be economically reasonable, applicable and safe.
5. Labor: In leech farming, attention must be paid to labor issues. Pond patrols in leech farming must be more frequent than in other types of aquaculture, and when individual deaths are found, the cause and solutions must immediately be considered.