Poor household Wu Shifu is full of confidence in shaking off poverty, with hope for prosperity
Fengjie, China Network (Reporter Ma Jiangwang) "I just finished feeding the silkworms once, so I can take a rest now." Recently, when the reporter walked into the silkworm rearing shed of Wu Shifu, a poor household in Faxiang Village, Qinglong Town, they heard a crisp "rustling" sound, like a harmonious symphony being performed. That was exactly the silkworm babies' mealtime. "This is the second season of silkworms this year, and judging by how things look now, the quality should be pretty good." Wu Shifu said while checking the growth of the "silkworm babies" and talking about his "silkworm rearing experience."
Mulberry silkworm rearing, finding a new path out of poverty
Wu Shifu, 43 years old this year, is a registered poor household in the village. There are 4 people in his family. He suffers from a chronic illness and needs to take medicine all year round, so he cannot do heavy work. His wife, Huang Zhengrong, stays at home to take care of their two sons who are still in school. The family relies on their few mu of land and often worries about the harvest.
In order to solve the difficulties of Wu Shifu's family and help them shake off poverty as soon as possible, in August 2015, the village work team stationed in Faxiang Village arranged for Liu Heming, the village comprehensive management specialist and sericulture technician, to provide paired assistance to Wu Shifu.
Liu Heming often came to his home to help him find ideas for escaping poverty. "Raising silkworms is a good way to increase income. Compared with raising pigs and farming, silkworm rearing is relatively much less labor-intensive, and it has a short cycle, quick results, low investment, and low risk. At the same time, raising silkworms during the slack farming season does not delay other production." After hearing the village agricultural technician say that raising silkworms was more worthwhile than growing grain, he became interested.
He acted as soon as he made up his mind. Under the encouragement and guidance of technician Liu Heming, he gradually mastered the relevant techniques of silkworm rearing by attending training, going out for inspections and study, and other means. In the winter of 2015, Wu Shifu began trial rearing 2 sheets of silkworm eggs. Over nearly a month, Wu Shifu ate and slept in the silkworm room and recorded the changes in the silkworm babies every day. Under his careful care, he earned 3,600 yuan that month.
"Silkworm babies" become the "golden key" to prosperity
After Wu Shifu gained the "first bucket of gold" from his venture, he decided to expand the scale, but the basic conditions such as the silkworm room were insufficient, and it was also difficult to increase the number of silkworms raised. "Funds were already very tight. I borrowed from everyone I could among friends, but I still could not raise enough for building the silkworm room. Fortunately, Xiangfei Sericulture Company gave a subsidy of 100 yuan per sq m for building silkworm rooms, which reduced a lot of my financial pressure," Wu Shifu said.
With the help of the Faxiang Village Committee and Xiangfei Sericulture Company, Wu Shifu completed the construction of his own silkworm room in March 2016. This year, Wu Shifu raised 3 sheets of silkworms in the first season, earning 5,400 yuan, and raised 3 sheets in the second season. In a few more days, they can be put on the racks, and 5 days after being put on the racks, they can be sold for income.
During the silkworm rearing process, Wu Shifu was good at learning and exploring, brave in pioneering and innovating, and constantly summarized experience. In less than two years of practice, he accumulated rich knowledge and techniques for raising and breeding silkworms. He strictly carried out every detail of disinfection of the silkworm room and tools, temperature incubation, and disease prevention. The silkworms he raised had few deaths, a high rate of cocoon mounting, and produced cocoons of good quality with white and clean silk and a high reelability rate. Each sheet of silkworms produced an average of 50 kg of cocoons. The scale of silkworm rearing expanded year by year, and income increased year by year.
Looking at the silkworm babies preparing to go up the "mountain," Wu Shifu said: "In a few more days, Xiangfei Sericulture Company will come here to buy the cocoons, and I will just wait for the money to be delivered to my door." Wu Shifu told the reporter that since he started raising silkworms, his family's living standard has been rising steadily like a sesame stalk blooming higher and higher. "If the silkworms are raised well, then you earn more." When mentioning the income brought by silkworm rearing, Wu Shifu was beaming with joy. He did the math: raising silkworms 3 seasons a year, with 3 sheets per season, an average of 9 sheets of silkworms can be produced in a year. At an average selling price of 1,800 yuan per sheet of silkworms, the annual income from silkworm rearing reaches about 16,000 yuan, and his wife Huang Zhengrong, with the help of the village committee, can earn more than 8,000 yuan from local work. Adding other agricultural income, this family of four will completely take off the poor household label and embark on the road to moderate prosperity.
Teaching for free, leading fellow villagers to become prosperous through silkworm rearing
"Planting mulberries and raising silkworms is a good project, and the market prospects are good. Now that I have the techniques, if fellow villagers also want to raise silkworms, I am very willing to lead them along the road to prosperity through silkworm rearing." Having become better off, Wu Shifu did not forget his fellow villagers, and without reservation he passed on all the knowledge, techniques, and accumulated experience he had learned to other villagers. Whenever anyone had difficulties or problems with silkworm rearing and came to ask for advice, he explained patiently and in detail, and even personally ran to the silkworm room to demonstrate on site.
He did the math for the villagers and said: "Growing corn can bring in 500 yuan per mu in a good year. After deducting costs and labor, it basically only preserves one's food ration, and there is no way to make money at all. But by planting mulberries and raising silkworms, each household can earn at least several thousand yuan a year."
Seeing that Wu Shifu's silkworm rearing had produced economic benefits, the villagers were convinced this time and came one after another to learn from him, setting off a wave of mulberry planting and silkworm rearing throughout the village. Up to now, the village has built more than 800 mu of mulberry fields for sericulture and cultivated 40 large silkworm-rearing households. The scale of the village's sericulture industry has continued to expand.
In Faxiang Village, there are still many others like Wu Shifu who have shaken off poverty and become prosperous by relying on silkworm rearing. The spring silkworm cocoons from 150 sheets of silkworm eggs, which began coming to market successively in June in the village, had cumulative sales amounting to more than 250,000 yuan. Increasing income through silkworm rearing has become an important industry for farmers in the village to escape poverty and increase income.
"In order to develop industries to increase income and escape poverty, since the launch of the poverty alleviation work, the county and town have successively introduced a series of preferential policies such as subsidies for mulberry seedlings, subsidies for newly built silkworm rooms, and subsidies for fertilizer for large households, which stimulated the enthusiasm of the poor people in our village to plant mulberries and raise silkworms to increase income." A relevant person in charge of Faxiang Village told the reporter that this year the village raised 150 sheets of silkworms in spring, and the income generated immediately increased to 250,000 yuan, laying a solid foundation for the whole village to escape poverty this year. Silkworm rearing has become the leading industry for increasing the income of the village's people.