Danshou snake farming expert Zhang Zhuang: 8 years of persistent exploration of the secrets of snake farming
Snakes, which ordinary people find intimidating, can become a promising hundred-million-yuan industry in the hands of Zhang Zhuangbang.
Zhang Zhuangbang, who is in his thirties, is the chairman of the Danzhou Baofa Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative. The cooperative is located in Nanfeng Town, Danzhou City, connects more than 20 farming households, and currently raises more than 100,000 oriental rat snakes (also known as Ptyas mucosa).
At the current pace, by the end of 2017 it will be able to involve nearly 500 farming households in total. By then, the Danzhou oriental rat snake industry will bring economies of scale into play.
8 years of unremitting learning
8 years is but a brief moment in the long river of time, but for Zhang Zhuangbang, it has been an unforgettable experience in his entrepreneurial journey.
In 2009, by a chance occurrence, Zhang Zhuangbang heard people say that raising oriental rat snakes was very profitable. So he crossed the Qiongzhou Strait and went on a "study tour" to oriental rat snake breeding bases in multiple provinces.
In 2010, Zhang Zhuangbang began trial-raising oriental rat snakes. After that, he traveled back and forth many times to oriental rat snake breeding bases inside and outside the province to investigate and learn, and sought advice from many breeding experts.
Zhang Zhuangbang, who is now full of snake knowledge, introduced that the oriental rat snake is a non-venomous snake, yellow-brown on the back, with irregular black transverse bands on the rear part of the body, mainly distributed in southern regions.
When it comes to breeding techniques, he speaks endlessly. For example, before snakes enter the shed, they must undergo a "medicated bath" to prevent pathogens from entering the facility. For the "medicated bath," disinfectant solutions such as boric acid and potassium permanganate can be used; after dilution, the snake body is soaked for 2 to 5 minutes.
Through long-term unremitting investigation and research, in addition to mastering rich breeding techniques, mainly using chicken meat for feeding, Zhang Zhuangbang also explored and fermented a kind of Chinese herbal medicine. "Using this well-fermented Chinese herbal medicine to feed oriental rat snakes is not only environmentally friendly, but also lets the snakes stimulate appetite and strengthen their constitution after eating it," he said proudly.
Driving fellow villagers along, making money together
With a certain level of technical skill, Zhang Zhuangbang, with his father's encouragement and help, raised 5 million yuan from various sources and in 2013 initiated the establishment of the Danzhou Baofa Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative.
"The purpose of establishing the cooperative is to drive fellow villagers to engage in breeding, and for everyone to make money together," Zhang Zhuangbang said. Through the "cooperative + farming households" model, it specializes in a distinctive industry integrating oriental rat snake breeding, hatching and selling snake hatchlings, promotion of breeding technology, epidemic prevention services, and the purchase and processing of commercial snakes.
Zhang Zhuangbang revealed that the cooperative is still in the stage of laying the foundation, mainly supporting farming households in raising snakes, and temporarily not selling externally. The cooperative provides snake hatchlings to farming households, trains farmers in breeding technology, and is responsible for buying back commercial snakes, with a minimum protective price of 100 yuan/jin, and snake eggs at 30 yuan/egg, ensuring that farming households have a stable source of income.
Raising snakes makes money quickly because snakes have relatively strong reproductive capacity. Zhang Zhuangbang said that farming households currently connected with the cooperative generally raise more than 300 female snakes each; one female snake lays about 30 eggs per year, and farming households can obtain profits in the same year by selling snake eggs.
The Danzhou Baofa Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative is located in the Qitan Village group of the Maliangpai Miao Village Committee, Nanfeng Town. Its number of snakes raised has now exceeded 100,000, with an annual output value of more than 30 million yuan.
Speaking of base construction, Zhang Zhuangbang told reporters that at the current momentum of development, by the end of 2016 it will involve more than 300 farming households, and by the end of 2017 it will involve more than 500, raising more than 400,000 oriental rat snakes, with annual output value expected to reach 120 million yuan.
Expanding the snake farming industry and increasing added value
The large-scale breeding of oriental rat snakes by the Danzhou Baofa Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative has also driven related industries. From the perspective of raw materials alone, the food mainly needed for oriental rat snakes is chicken meat, which has to a certain extent stimulated Danzhou's chicken farming industry.
In December 2015, Zhang Zhuangbang's "oriental rat snake breeding" project won third prize in the startup enterprise group of the Hainan Province Entrepreneurship Competition.
This project has found soil to take root in Danzhou. It is understood that in order to promote the rapid development of the project, the Nanfeng Town government focused on adjusting the agricultural industrial structure and adopted a method in which the government pays half and farming households pay half to purchase snake hatchlings at 150 yuan each from the cooperative, to support farming households on the path to common prosperity.
Zhang Zhuangbang introduced that the plan is to carry out multi-level development of snake products: the first level is to cut and bag snake meat and connect with supermarkets and stores, so that snake meat can reach the dining tables of thousands of households. The second level is to refine snake blood, snake gall, snake oil, and so on, to bring into play their different functions. For example, snake blood can be used to make medicinal liquor to treat various diseases; snake gall can also be used medicinally to enhance human immunity and delay aging; snake oil can be used for physiotherapy for burns and is also a high-end pure natural cosmetic.
Regarding how to make the snake industry bigger and stronger in the next step, Zhang Zhuangbang said: "The key is to focus on deep processing and increase added value."