When Kunming wasps swarm, wasp pupae and wasp venom become a golden key to wealth

Villagers inspecting a wasp nest

Villagers displaying dishes made with wasps.

Leidashi Village in Kunming, Yunnan, has reached a cooperation agreement with Kunming Fengling Garment Co., Ltd., to carry out a wasp farming project in the village based on its actual conditions. At present, Kunming Fengling Garment Co., Ltd. has assigned personnel to obtain "beekeeping know-how" from professional wasp breeding institutions, and has opened the first professional wasp breeding base.

It is understood that in Leidashi Village, all young people under 30 have gone out to work, the permanent population is under 80 people, the average age is over 50, the per capita income is less than 5,000 yuan, more than 50% of the land has been returned to forest under the Grain for Green program, and the traffic conditions are extremely poor. Given the actual conditions of the Songhuaba Nature Reserve, it is very necessary to introduce projects with low labor intensity, low transportation costs, high environmental protection and high returns. Through the rational supplementation of food fed by villagers, the output of wasp pupae per nest can be increased by 1 to 10 times, directly increasing villagers' income by 10,000 to 50,000 yuan, and the golden wasp pupae have become the "golden steamed buns" in the hands of villagers. In addition, extracting commercial wasp venom can also greatly increase income. At present, the foreign market price of each gram of high-purity wasp venom is about 2 times that of each gram of gold. Therefore, the wasp farming project helps achieve both environmental protection and economic benefits.