Taming Wild Wasps Helps Deep-Mountain Farmers Increase Income

Original title: "Wasp King" of the Deep Mountains: Wasp Farming Drives Farmers' Income Growth

On May 22, in Hetou Village, Longshan Town, Longling County, Yunnan Province, Huang Guozhong inspects a wasp nest newly cultivated by a villager in the mountain forest.

Huang Guozhong, a wasp farmer in Longshan Town, Longling County, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, is known locally as the "Wasp King." After years of unremitting exploration, he succeeded in artificially taming wild wasps and turned wasp farming into an industry that drives farmers' income growth.

Huang Guozhong overcame the technical difficulties of taming wasps and continuously expanded his farming scale, from 60 wasp colonies at the beginning to more than 18,000 colonies now. He said that wasp farming has low requirements for labor input and farming conditions, does not interfere with farm work, and delivers obvious economic benefits. At present, Huang Guozhong has helped about 800 impoverished households to farm wasps. He provides free wasp seeds to poor households, offers free on-site technical training and guidance, and purchases at a unified price, selling wasp pupae, honey and other products to Tengchong, Mangshi and other places in Yunnan. More and more farmers are living better lives by farming wasps.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao

On May 22, Huang Guozhong (left) explains methods for helping queen wasps mate to trainees at the training base.

On May 22, in Hetou Village, Longshan Town, Longling County, Yunnan Province, Huang Guozhong injects nutrient solution into wasp nests at the farming base.