Earthworms like 'gold' in the earth

In a 1,500-square-meter warehouse in Southwest China's Chongqing, earthworms crawl in 500 blue boxes each about the size of a television set.

The warehouse is an earthworm farm in Longtai village, Wuxi county. The little wriggling worms have helped many out of poverty.

"In the past, earthworms were just little worms in the village," said Lu Maoliang, Party chief of the village. "Now, they are like gold in the earth."

The earthworm farm was set up with the help of the Communist youth leagues of Chongqing and Wuxi counties, and the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau.

Currently, the farm can generate a revenue of about 400,000 yuan ($59,400) a year. It plans to expand to accommodate 2,000 boxes next year. "Earthworms can be used in medicine and cosmetic products," said Chen Keyu from the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau. "They also help to protect the environment."

Food for the earthworms comes from a cattle farm nearby.

"We feed the worms with dried cow dung," Chen said.

In the past, villagers thought the cow dung was dirty. However, with the earthworm farm, the waste can be effectively used.

"The cow dung is usually dried and fermented before it is fed to the worms," he said. "On the other hand, the waste from the worms is natural organic fertilizer, and this can be used to grow vegetables and fruits."

The farms in the village are now using earthworm waste, and the quality of the vegetables and fruits has become much better.

"Vegetables are greener and stronger," Lu said. "The earthworm project truly has helped improve lives here."

Ding Weimi, 62, comes from one of the poor families in the village. Now, she can make more than 10,000 yuan a year working on the earthworm farm.

"There were 20 disadvantaged families in the village. Three of them, including Ding's family, work on the earthworm farm. The rest of them are eligible to share the revenue," Lu said.

Wuxi is home to 540,000 residents, and is one of the poorest places in Chongqing. From 2015 to 2017, more than 70,000 people were lifted out of poverty there. Authorities plan to help another 11,000 more people out of poverty by the end of this year.

China has set 2020 as the target to finish building a moderately prosperous society and to eradicate poverty.

Xinhua