once upon a time

  There are earthworms everywhere, and there are several under the moving stone

  In the 1990s, dry land dragons were sold for 1 yuan/kg

  Now

  There are fewer and fewer earthworms in the surrounding fields, and every time you have to ride a bicycle to the distant mountains to see them

  The purchase price of dry ground dragon has risen to more than 200 yuan per kilogram

  Recently, the phenomenon of electric shock earthworms in many parts of the country has attracted attention.

When the reporter recently visited relevant counties and villages in Yulin, Guangxi, many people told the reporter that wild earthworms have become rare after being caught for many years. Especially after the appearance of the "Dilongyi", a tool to shock earthworms, the number of wild earthworms has dropped sharply.

The purchase price of Dilong has risen from 1 yuan per kilogram in the 1990s to 40 or 50 yuan per kilogram seven or eight years ago, and then rose to more than 200 yuan per kilogram now.

  According to the records of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", among the hundreds of earthworm species in my country, there are 4 species with medicinal value, namely: Cymbidium worms, common worms, William worms, and Ctenopsis Hairy worm.

The former type of earthworm is called "Guodilong", and the latter three are called "Hudilong".

The earthworms produced in Yulin, Guangxi belong to Guangdilong, and have high medicinal value. They are mainly used to relieve symptoms such as convulsions, hemiplegia, and high blood pressure.

  Not only in Guangxi, but also in Henan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and other places, according to media reports, the phenomenon of electric shock to earthworms also exists.

Experts worry that if this continues, some species of wild earthworms may face extinction in the next few years, and this ecological damage may be irreversible.

  The value of earthworms

  For the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases

  The purchase price is generally above 200 yuan/kg

  It is understood that there are more than 600 kinds of earthworms in my country, of which only four have been included in the "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", namely the worms of the family Cymbididae, the common ringworm, the William ringworm, and the blind ringworm.

The former earthworm drying system is called "Guodilong", and the latter three drying systems are called "Hudilong".

Guangdi dragons are caught from spring to autumn, and Hudi dragons are caught in summer.

  According to the introduction of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Dilong is mainly used to relieve symptoms such as high fever, dizziness, epilepsy convulsions, numbness of limbs, hemiplegia, cough due to lung heat, and high blood pressure.

Guangdilong is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan and other places, and the main production areas of Hudilong are in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.

  In Yinfeng International Traditional Chinese Medicine Port, the largest wholesale place of Dilong in Yulin City, there are more than ten merchants specialized in acquiring Dilong, and the purchase price is generally above 200 yuan/kg.

In addition to the locally grown Guangdilong, there are also transported from Hainan.

  Merchant Wang Yong told reporters that most of the land dragons here were made by electric shocks from Longyi, a land used in surrounding towns and villages.

"Earth dragons can be attacked at will, and no one cares, because this thing is not a protected animal." Wang Yong said that after several years of electric shock, Luchuan County and Bobai County have almost caught them, and now the electric shock earth dragon has to drive to From far away, "it used to be more than 100 catties a day, but now 20 catties is pretty good."

  Another merchant, Liu Cong, said that the sale of Dilong is very risky now, and some Guangdilongs were purchased from other provinces after breeding.

Liu Cong told reporters that Guangdong no longer allows electric shocks to wild earthworms, "but there is no such regulation in Guangxi at present. When farmers go to electric shock earthworms, they will catch large and small earthworms. If they are too small to open their stomachs, they will be exposed to the sun. Dry for feed."

  an industrial chain

  In Yulin, capturing earthworms has formed a complete industrial chain.

Many purchasers ride motorcycles to the countryside to make purchases, and then sell them to Yulin Traditional Chinese Medicine Port, and then send them to all parts of the country through logistics.

  catch party

  The number of wild earthworms is declining

  Now we have to go far away in the mountains to get electricity

  In recent years, with the use of the earth dragon instrument, there has been a wave of electric shock to earthworms in many places.

This ubiquitous "public resource" has become a means for some people to accumulate wealth.

In Guangxi, the "Guangdilong", which is a traditional Chinese medicinal material, has suffered particularly badly.

  At the end of July, the reporter came to Luchuan County, Yulin City, Guangxi.

Under the guidance of local farmers, the reporter found a carpenter shop in Daqiao Town.

Xiaoqing introduced that she has been "in the business" for seven or eight years. After every heavy rain, she will take the earth dragon instrument to search for traces of earthworms in far away places, especially when the earthworms climb out of the ground in the early morning.

At present, Xiaoqing's family has seven or eight catties of dried earthworms waiting to be sold.

  "We all use electricity here. The dry earthworms we receive now are 120 yuan per kilogram, and in August and September it may be sold for 130 yuan per kilogram." When the reporter saw Xiaoqing, she was in the vegetable garden behind the house. watering.

She said that it is now in the off-season to shock earthworms, because the weather is too hot and the ground is dry, many earthworms cannot get out.

And because of the perennial capture, there are fewer and fewer earthworms in the surrounding fields, and every time you have to ride an electric bike to the distant mountains to see them.

  Compared with going out to work, Xiaoqing feels that electric shocking earthworms makes more money, and the working hours are more casual.

She spent more than 500 yuan to buy Dilongyi. Under normal circumstances, in just one morning, she can catch more than ten catties of wet earthworms, which can be sold for more than 100 yuan.

  Chen Zhiming, a merchant from Yulin Traditional Chinese Medicine Port, showed the effect of the earthworm to the reporter: after inserting the earthworm into the ground, more than a dozen earthworms crawled out of the ground in less than two minutes, and some small earthworms kept jumping on the ground. I want to stay away from the ground; there are also small frogs, beetles and other animals nearby who are awakened and get out of the ground and start walking.

  Merchant

  The buyout industry has always existed

  The purchase price has increased four or five times in a few years

  In Wushi Town, Luchuan County, the reporter found Mr. Chen who bought earthworms. He is the younger brother of Chen Zhiming, a merchant from the Chinese Medicine Port.

"This year's Dilong business is not easy to do, so it should be cheaper." Mr. Chen told reporters that the decline in the price of Dilong this year may be related to the continuation of the epidemic and the increase in farmers.

The earthworms he bought were all wild, and they were shipped to the Chinese Medicine Port of Yulin City, where his two brothers were doing wholesale business of earthworms.

  Mr. Chen looks to be in his 30s. Recalling his childhood, he said that he saw earthworms all over the place at that time, and there were many under the moving stones, but now there are none nearby.

"Seven or eight years ago, when there were first ground dragons, they could catch 300 to 500 catties a day in the ground, and some people even caught 1,000 catties. Now there are fewer and fewer, and many places are basically invisible." Mr. Chen said , The local land dragon acquisition industry has always existed. I remember that in the 1990s, dry land dragons were sold for 1 yuan/kg.

After the appearance of Dilongyi, the local earthworms began to decrease significantly.

According to Mr. Chen, in recent years, the purchase price of Gandilong has risen from 40 to 50 yuan per kilogram to more than 200 yuan.

Mr. Chen said that he also has a Dilongyi, but he has stopped the electric shock now because it is difficult to find wild earthworms nearby.

  Mr. Chen heard that now Guangdong and Hainan have banned electricity, "but not in Guangxi."

According to public information, in 2020, Guangdong Province revised its regulations on the management of wildlife protection, expressly prohibiting the use of electric shocks and electronic traps to hunt wild animals.

However, the reporter inquired about the official website of the relevant department and did not see the regulations prohibiting the killing of wild earthworms.

  where to go

  eventually flowed to pharmaceutical companies all over the world

  Demand will increase

  During the interview, the reporter found that the wild earthworms purchased by Yulin Traditional Chinese Medicine Port eventually flowed to pharmaceutical factories around the world.

Some businessmen told reporters that they included well-known pharmaceutical companies such as Tongrentang and Kangmei Pharmaceutical.

  When the reporter called the relevant pharmaceutical company to inquire about the source of Dilong medicinal materials, both the company's office staff and the pharmacy staff said they were unclear.

In a Dilong breeding cooperative in Bozhou, Anhui, the other party said that it was buying wild earthworms at the same time, and it said that it was a pharmaceutical company.

The official website of the breeding cooperative shows that the investor behind it is a pharmaceutical company in Guangdong.

  "The pharmaceutical factory mainly extracts the lumbrokinase in earthworms, and now lumbrokinase is sold for more than 200,000 yuan per kilogram." Chen Jie, a staff member of the earthworm farm, said that with hypertension and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases getting younger and younger, the The demand for lumbrokinase will also increase.

But he would not buy earthworms that were electrocuted by nearby farmers, because the specifications are large and small, and the heavy metals in them may exceed the standard.

In addition, hunting wild earthworms is contrary to the requirements of environmental protection. This method of drying up and fishing is obviously not a long-term solution.

  In this regard, many experts and scholars said in an interview with reporters that the current laws and regulations on the protection of wild earthworms are still lagging behind.

In the event of electric shock to wild earthworms and other behaviors, it is often difficult to find a suitable legal basis to punish the parties, except that there are special restraint laws in some places.

They suggested that measures such as speeding up legislation, dynamically adjusting the list of wild animals, and increasing public interest litigation should be taken to protect wild earthworms.

  another business

  The rise of farming

  The yield per mu can reach 6,000 jin and still cannot replace wild earthworms

  In addition to catching wild earthworms, Yulin City has also started artificial earthworm farming in recent years.

However, compared with wild earthworms, the purchase price of artificially farmed earthworms is lower, and there is no scale to replace wild earthworms.

  On the afternoon of July 29, the reporter came to an earthworm farm in Daqiao Town, Luchuan County.

Chen Jie, a staff member, pointed to the blue greenhouse and told reporters that Daping No. 2 earthworms were cultivated in the greenhouse. The reason why they were kept in the greenhouse was mainly to prevent rain, because Yulin was relatively close to the sea, and it was easy to flood the earthworms when the rainstorm came. die.

  According to Chen Jie, more than 60 acres of earthworms are cultivated in Yulin area. Now each acre can produce 6,000 catties of earthworms per year. Based on the guaranteed minimum purchase price of 5 yuan per catty, the annual income per mu of land is 30,000 yuan.

In addition, vermicompost is a natural organic fertilizer and can also be sold to greenhouse vegetables. The organic vegetables grown have good taste and high relative price.

  According to Chen Jie, earthworm farming is usually mainly fed on cow dung and pig dung, which can be purchased from surrounding towns and towns, and the price is about 100 yuan per ton.

This kind of earthworm does not burrow into the ground, and it is often active on the surface. The breeding density is very high, about 50 pounds per square meter.

  When harvesting earthworms, sprinkle some material on the side of the raised breeding bed, the earthworms will climb to the side, and then they can be shoveled out directly with a shovel.

The harvested earthworms do not need to be opened. After spitting out the sand in the belly of the earthworms with some kind of medicine, they are cleaned, packed and stored in the cold storage.

When 32 tons are collected, the pharmaceutical factory will come to buy it.

  It is understood that in Shangqiu, Henan, there are also many farmers breeding Daping No. 2 earthworms in the fields, but during the breeding process, it is prone to heavy rain, extreme heat, and easy to be pecked by other birds, so the final output is only one-fifth of that of greenhouse farming in Guangxi. One, that is, about 10 catties of earthworms are harvested per square meter.

But Chen Jie said that the advantages of breeding in Henan are that cattle manure is suitable, the land is flat, and it is easy to feed.

  Chen Jie said that his earthworm farming factory invested more than 4 million yuan, including bulldozers and conveyor tracks.

Next, Chen Jie plans to pull back the local sludge for the earthworms to decompose, and then he can get a government subsidy of 200 yuan per ton.

This saves money on purchasing cow dung, and also helps to revitalize the countryside and protect the environment. This is also the only way for the sustainable development of earthworm farming plants.

  Chen Jie, who is about 30 years old, has been breeding earthworms in Guangxi for 3 years. His breeding factory has breeding bases in Luchuan County, Bobai County and Hepu County.

In Chen Jie's office, the reporter also saw Dilong protein (drinks), Dilong tea, Dilong protein wine, Dilong oral liquid and other health products produced by his company.

It said that the company provides 5,000 tons of cultured earthworms to large pharmaceutical companies every year.

  (Chen Zhiming, Xiaoqing, Wang Yong, Liu Cong, and Chen Jie are all pseudonyms in the text)

  Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Lu Yanfei, intern Zeng Yi from Yulin, Guangxi