Standardized leech farming in Shidian, Yunnan helps farmers escape poverty and become prosperous

Yunnan Net (Reporter Zhao Gang, Correspondent Zhang Yaohui) Recently, a reporter learned from the Publicity Office of Shidian County, Yunnan, that Shidian County has successfully achieved standardized large-scale leech farming. More than 50 farming households, in cooperation with a pharmaceutical company, adopted standardized leech farming technology and successfully farmed 526 mu of leeches. The farming households will obtain economic returns of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan from leech farming.

Leeches are commonly known as "ma huang." Because leeches contain an anticoagulant substance (hirudin) that can prevent fibrinogen in the blood from coagulating, market demand is extremely high. Since Shidian County's year-round climate and environment are extremely suitable for the growth and reproduction of leeches, Shidian County has included farmers' cultivation of Shidian leeches as a project for farmers to become prosperous, adopting an operating mechanism of "company + base + farmers + deep processing." Yunnan Hairuidi Biological Pharmaceutical Company provides standardized farming technology. Farming households can produce more than 200 kg of leeches per mu of field each year. Calculated at the current market price of about 100 yuan, this can bring farming households economic benefits of about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

At present, Shidian County, which has achieved large-scale farming, can produce about 10 tons of leech freeze-dried powder annually, generating direct benefits of 72 million yuan. The 50 leech-farming households can step onto the path of escaping poverty and becoming prosperous.