Raising ground beetles on 14 mu, earning 3.2 million yuan a year

Huang Fuming, a leader in entrepreneurship and wealth creation in Dengpu Village, Meishan, revitalized 14 mu of land through land transfer and established the Huang Heji Family Farm ground beetle breeding base. This not only allowed nearby villagers to earn income through work, but he also used his own breeding techniques to help other villagers, leading everyone to prosper together.

Revitalizing land to breed ground beetles brings annual income of 3.2 million yuan

Recently, at Huang Fuming's ground beetle breeding base, several workers were turning over the soil in a dried-out pond.

Worker Zheng Guoliang, 60 years old this year, told reporters that he has been working here since he was around 50. "Every year at this time, once the ground beetles are all sold, the water in the pond is drained, and then my wife and I are responsible for turning over the soil. The boss says that turning the soil lets the waste in it be exposed to the sun, which has a sterilizing and disinfecting effect."

Huang Fuming said he has 6 workers here (3 couples), all over 50 years old, working 8 hours a day, responsible for processing feed and feeding the ground beetles.

"We like working here. My wife and I earn more than 6,000 yuan a month combined." Zheng Guoliang is very grateful to the boss for providing them with this job.

Inspired by Huang Fuming, villager Huang Zhongsheng of Dengpu Village also revitalized 9 mu of land for breeding ground beetles. This year, Huang Zhongsheng's ground beetle breeding base reached sales of more than 1 million yuan.

"I often visit households to motivate villagers, encouraging them to invest in various forms such as capital and land. Every year I continue to transfer and revitalize land from villagers," Huang Fuming said. This year most of his commercial ground beetles have been sold, and his annual income has reached around 3.2 million yuan.

Raising a thousand ecological ground beetles, harvest expected in June next year

Huang Fuming said he has had the idea of raising ground beetles since childhood. "Ground beetles are a good thing. From the time I was old enough to understand things, my father suffered from an eye disease, and after eating ground beetles for 2 consecutive years, his eye disease was cured."

"In 1995, I began conducting market research on ground beetles, and 4 years later I started revitalizing land," Huang Fuming said. Now, he has transferred and revitalized 14 mu of land for breeding. "This year I plan to expand by another 6 mu, all for breeding, and then recruit workers to come and help."

In 2013, Huang Fuming's ground beetle breeding base shifted to an ecological breeding model. In June next year, his first batch of 1,000 ecological ground beetles will be harvested, and in 2017 it will be expanded to 5,000.

"In the past, commercial ground beetles weighed only a little over 1 jin each, and one jin sold for only 22 yuan, so the maximum profit per ground beetle was only 7 yuan. But ecological ground beetles can sell for more than 100 yuan per jin, with a profit of 40 yuan," Huang Fuming said.

According to Huang Fuming, each square meter can raise 15 commercial ground beetles, producing around 20 jin, with a cycle of 13 months, and they are raised on feed. Ecological ground beetles, however, can raise at most 3 per square meter, with a cycle of 26 months, and their food is all fresh small fish.

"Ecological ground beetles are now a demand of residents everywhere for new flavors. Everyone is pursuing food safety and green environmental protection, and I plan to phase out all 100,000 of these commercial ground beetles within 5 years and replace them with ecological ground beetles," Huang Fuming said.