Turning Leeches into Soft Gold: Lu Changjun's Road to Wealth Through Specialty Farming

The same rice paddies, but in Yuemiao Village, Wanshan Town, Lujiang County, major grain grower Lu Changjun changed his "planting" method this year - he started "planting" leeches, turning this blood-sucking creature that people fear into a "treasure." What surprised him was that leeches from 1 mu of land sold for the price of rice from 60 mu of land.

On September 17, with gentle breezes and bright sunshine, walking into Lu Changjun's family farm, one side showed stretches of rippling rice waves, a rice paddy field that stretched beyond sight; the other side showed standard net cages, with plump, glossy leeches swimming about like colored ribbons... a beautiful scene of a bountiful harvest came into view.

Last year, Lu Changjun transferred 260 mu of land to grow rice, with total output reaching over 200,000 kg. But the young Lu Changjun was not a "contented" farmer. At the beginning of this year, the quick-witted man happened to learn online that leech farming had good prospects. "I looked up relevant information and learned that leeches are a special medicinal aquatic animal, commonly known as ma huang, and are called 'soft gold,' so I set aside 20 mu of rice paddies and converted them into leech breeding ponds."

"Leeches are treasures from head to tail, capable of extracting anticoagulants. In recent years, their medical applications have been very broad, and with a large market gap and good prospects, prices have kept rising." As Lu Changjun spoke, he reached into the field and scooped up several earth-yellow leeches with brown patterns, their bodies stretching continuously in his palm.

He counted on his fingers and did the math: based on the farming site, each mu breeds 100,000 leeches, with output around 400 kg. Calculated at the current market price of 160 yuan per kg for live leeches, this year's profit alone would exceed 60,000 yuan. Whereas growing rice, after deducting labor and costs, yields only about 1,000 yuan profit per mu.

"Leeches as a raw material are in short supply at every pharmaceutical factory. Leech farming has a very short production cycle, just 3.5 months. As long as you raise the leeches, you don't need to worry about sales." Lu Changjun said, "With the support of the rural commercial bank, I invested 600,000 yuan in leech farming. By conservative estimate, netting 1.3 million yuan this year is no problem."