Characteristic farming in Wusu City becomes a new favorite for locals to get rich

Tianshan Net News (Correspondent Tian Nana, Zhang Junmei reporting) Gu Jinbao is an ordinary farmer from Heba North Village, Sikeshu Town, Wusu City, who has always made a living from crop farming with modest returns. By chance, he saw an agricultural program explaining tips for getting rich by raising scorpions, which immediately sparked his interest. After asking around and learning online about scorpion breeding techniques and economic benefits, he was inspired to pursue his dream of getting rich by raising scorpions.

According to Gu Jinbao, because there are wild scorpions readily available on the Gobi Desert near his home, under his lead, 6 quick-witted young men in the village joined him in catching scorpions. Starting in May this year, they rode motorcycles together to the Gobi Desert every night at 11 p.m. to catch scorpions. At first, lacking experience and unfamiliar with the scorpions' living patterns, they caught only a small amount each night. They kept summarizing their catching experience and figuring out the scorpions' nighttime activity patterns, and now they can sometimes catch more than 200 grams. Because their scorpion numbers are small and sales channels are limited, they sell them at a price of 640-680 yuan per kilogram.

Gu Jinbao told this writer: "In the process of catching and buying scorpions, I felt that the market demand for scorpions is huge, such as major pharmaceutical companies and high-end catering businesses. Raising scorpions does not cost as much as raising poultry, and it takes up very little space, as they can be raised in plastic trays. Most importantly, scorpions have strong reproductive capacity, a short cycle, and produce many offspring. From May until now, I have caught some myself and bought some, and now I have more than 2,000 scorpions at home. Scorpions are nocturnal, so I raise them at night, feeding them fresh beef and mutton and tending to them carefully, diligently recording their every move. After more than two months of careful care, the scorpions have adapted to his home environment, and he has also mastered the scorpions' living habits and reproductive characteristics. This year, he wants to spend a year exploring and getting thoroughly familiar with scorpion breeding techniques, and next year expand the breeding scale and share his breeding experience with fellow villagers, so that everyone can raise scorpions to get rich. Let all the villagers step onto this scorpion-breeding 'expressway' to increase income and get rich."


Ma Jinlong from the same village, who has been catching scorpions to sell for money, could not be happier when talking about their nightly scorpion catching. He said: "We are farmers, and we make a living just from the income from the fields. We heard from Gu Jinbao that scorpions have good economic returns, and besides, the Gobi Desert here is large. It only takes 2-3 hours each night, so it does not delay the next day's farm work, and we can still earn money. So the 6 of us agreed to work as full-time scorpion catchers every night. From May this year until now, we have earned about 3,000 yuan from scorpions. I think this is a good 'side job,' and we plan to keep doing it."

It is understood that in traditional Chinese medicine, the scorpion is called "quan xie" or "quan chong." It is pungent in taste, neutral in nature, toxic, and enters the liver meridian. It has effects such as extinguishing wind and stopping spasms, attacking toxins and dissipating masses, and dredging collaterals and relieving pain. Clinically, it is mainly used to treat pediatric convulsions, twitching and spasms, hemiplegia, tetanus, rheumatic paralysis, and migraine and general headaches. The medicinal value of scorpion venom is even higher; scorpion venom has special therapeutic effects in analgesia, anti-tumor, anti-epilepsy, and immune regulation. The scorpion is not only a traditional Chinese medicine but also a delicious delicacy. Scorpions have high protein content, and their amino acid composition is very comprehensive. In addition, scorpions are also a low-fat product rich in mineral elements. With the improvement of people's living standards and increased health awareness, scorpions, as a health food, are gradually appearing on dining tables and are favored by more and more consumers.