Qin'an Has a Post-80s Scorpion King Who Made His Name by Farming Scorpions
These days, with the introduction and implementation of a series of national poverty alleviation policies, a large number of rural young people have thrown themselves into the tide of entrepreneurship and embarked on the road to prosperity. A few years ago, Li Xuhong, a young farmer from Qin'an County, raised money to start farming scorpions. After several years of ups and downs, he has now become a locally renowned "Scorpion King."
What lessons does the success of the "Scorpion King" hold for rural youth entrepreneurship? Recently, a reporter visited this "post-80s" rural entrepreneur.
The First Person in the Whole County Who Dared to "Eat" Scorpions
Li Xuhong lives in Qianhu Village, Qianhu Township, Qin'an County, where the mountains are high, the gullies are deep, and there are many people but little land. To make a living, many young people have no choice but to go out to work.
Born in 1980, Li Xuhong went out to work after graduating from junior high school. He built high-rises and paved roads, but in the end he still returned to his hometown. Around 2008, he tried selling Sichuan pepper locally, but did not earn much money.
In the summer of 2009, a business opportunity "burst" into Li Xuhong's life: people from elsewhere were buying up wild scorpions in the Qin'an area, with live scorpions fetching more than 200 yuan per jin. At first, a villager could catch more than a jin of scorpions a day, but later, more and more people were catching them, and there were fewer and fewer scorpions.
"Can scorpions be farmed artificially? If so, this is a good way to get rich." Li Xuhong sought out the trader who bought scorpions. The man told him that scorpions can be used in medicine and can also be eaten, and that the market prospects were very good, but that artificially farming scorpions requires a high level of technical skill, and the market risk is also great: you can make money but you can also lose everything.
"As long as they can be farmed artificially, why not give it a try?" Based on the information the trader provided, Li Xuhong traveled to Shandong and found a scorpion farming base, where he paid to learn scorpion farming techniques.
In June 2010, Li Xuhong brought back 1,000 breeding scorpions from Shandong and started farming scorpions in a shabby room in his own home. The early-stage learning, bringing in the breeding stock, fixing up the site, and buying equipment cost him tens of thousands of yuan right away.
By farming scorpions at home, Li Xuhong not only became the first person in Qianhu Village, but also the first person in the entire Qin'an County who dared to "eat" poisonous scorpions.
After Two Failures, He Finally Succeeded
"This kid is really bold. Isn't he just throwing money away for nothing?" At the time, many people in the village were not optimistic about this industry, and his family was even more worried.
Using the techniques he had learned, Li Xuhong built shelters for the scorpions out of bricks and tiles, asbestos tiles, and egg cartons, and also found a coal stove to heat the breeding room so that it stayed at a constant temperature. To solve the scorpions' "meal" problem, Li Xuhong raised yellow mealworms artificially in other rooms.
After about 40 days, the first batch of baby scorpions was born, and Li Xuhong was overjoyed. Scorpions hide by day and come out at night, and they like to eat yellow mealworms. Every night, Li Xuhong could not even spare time to eat his own meals; holding a flashlight, he would watch these little creatures darting around, then grab yellow mealworms to feed them.
Then, within a few days, Li Xuhong discovered a problem: the number of baby scorpions was getting smaller and smaller. Why was this? For several nights in a row, he was so anxious that he could not close his eyes. Finally, late one night, Li Xuhong saw a gruesome scene in the scorpion shelter: while one baby scorpion was molting inside the shelter, a large scorpion suddenly broke in and ferociously ate it!
Why do scorpions kill each other? Li Xuhong called his teacher in Shandong. The teacher told him that there were two reasons for this situation: first, there were too few yellow mealworms, so the scorpions were not full; second, there was a problem with the way the scorpion shelter was made.
The first batch of artificially farmed scorpions ended in failure, but Li Xuhong did not lose heart. Following his teacher's suggestions, he expanded the scale of yellow mealworm farming and at the same time made technical improvements to the scorpion shelter.
Before long, his second batch of baby scorpions was born. This time, the problem of scorpions killing each other because they were not full was completely solved, but this batch of scorpions grew especially slowly and in the end never grew to full size.
Li Xuhong pondered and investigated again and found the root of the problem: the growing environment for scorpions is very demanding, and the temperature in the breeding room had to be around 35°C, but his coal stove ran hot and cold and could not maintain a constant temperature, which affected the scorpions' growth.
"What should I do? Could it be that our area is not suitable for farming scorpions?" After two failures, Li Xuhong felt a little discouraged. Through a QQ discussion group on scorpion farming, he sought advice from farmers in other parts of the country.
Through this learning, Li Xuhong found a way to keep the breeding room at a constant temperature, and once again put in money, brought in breeding scorpions, and made a comeback.
In May 2012, after many twists and turns, Li Xuhong's third batch of scorpions was finally farmed successfully. This time, he sold only a small portion of them and kept the rest as breeding scorpions to expand the scale of farming.
In 2013, Li Xuhong raised more than 500,000 yuan and expanded his scorpion farm to more than 1,000 sq m. That year, the purchase price of live scorpions reached 450 yuan per jin, and Li Xuhong made a profit of more than 400,000 yuan in one go. In 2014, his annual income exceeded 500,000 yuan.
Without going through failure, how can one achieve success? After many twists and turns, Li Xuhong finally became a widely known "Scorpion King." Today, he has not only built a small Western-style house in his hometown, but also bought an apartment in Tianshui City, and his life has undergone earth-shaking changes.
He Wants to Help More People Get Rich
A few days ago, when the reporter met Li Xuhong, he was busy handling a bank loan. "I plan to develop local ecological agriculture and help more people get rich." In the interview, Li Xuhong told the reporter that his scorpion farming techniques are now very mature, and that three people - his parents and his cousin - are enough to take care of the farm. He wants to free himself up to do some other things.
"Many rural young people now run off to work elsewhere, leaving only the elderly and children at home, which brings a series of social problems. In fact, the countryside offers a broader horizon." Li Xuhong said that, taking Qianhu Village as an example, although there is very little land here, there are still many opportunities in planting and farming. In August this year, together with several young people from the same village, he established an agricultural cooperative.
"The apples from our Qin'an are of very good quality, but for many years they could only be marketed under the brands of places like Jingning and Tianshui. Why don't we create our own brand?" Li Xuhong said that at present he is looking for a trademark suitable for Qin'an itself, and after registering it, he will promote local apples to the national market.
"The market for agricultural products is very broad. Besides apples, the quality of our Qin'an Sichuan pepper, honey, and other products is also very good, and they can absolutely hold their own among similar products nationwide." Li Xuhong is full of confidence in his future.
"Right now, many people in the countryside are starting businesses, but most end in failure. Why is it so hard for them to succeed?" During the interview, the reporter raised this question.
After analyzing the situation, Li Xuhong believes that the difficulties rural youth face in starting businesses lie in their low level of education, their lack of professional advantages, and their inability to find suitable investment projects and product sales channels; their own funds are weak, and they often encounter breaks in the capital chain. At the same time, after encountering some setbacks, many people are frightened off by the difficulties and cannot persevere.
"In fact, as long as the project has good prospects and you do it with dedication, you can succeed." Li Xuhong said.