In 2023, the "No. 1 Central Document" mentions "cracking down on electrofishing earthworms", which is the first time that the No. 1 Central Document mentions electric earthworms in detail, why can a small earthworm attract the attention of the central government?
Many people may not know that behind this is not only a threat to the safety of farmland on the mainland, but also the price of countless people's lives.
The rise of the electric earthworm industry
Since the nineties of the last century, catching wild earthworms has been very common, at that time wet earthworms were only 3 cents and 1 catty, and only earned 10 yuan a day by planing 40 catties, even if it took great effort to make earthworms dry, it was about 20 yuan / kg, manual excavation efficiency was low, and it was not very profitable, and catching earthworms was mainly for feeding chickens and ducks, and making feed.
The turning point occurred around 2000, when Zhu from Bozhou saw a strong demand for dried earthworms in the traditional Chinese medicine market, and invented a special machine for catching earthworms, called Dilongyi.
Its structure is very simple, divided into a battery, a circuit board and a metal ground needle inserted into the soil, as long as two metal ground needles are inserted into the soil, the high-voltage current released by the equipment will stimulate the earthworm its epidermis, affect its breathing, produce a sense of suffocation, and the earthworm will crawl out of the surface in large numbers.
However, there are serious safety hazards in this equipment, the higher the voltage, the faster the earthworm climbs out of the ground, the metal ground needle is exposed, and the accidental touch of high voltage will lead to death, and the safety hazard is great.
The use of the earth dragon machine to catch earthworms, the efficiency of the earthworm has been increased by ten times, when the environment is good, you can catch five or six catties in 20 minutes, a fully charged earth dragon machine can work continuously for 5 hours, a day can be two or three hundred catties of electricity, instantly turn this line into a profiteering industry, countless people rush to buy.
At the same time, the earthworm catching industry has also produced supporting tools, which are used to keep earthworms fresh, and the "belly opening machine" specially used to cut earthworms, and the barbed wire for drying earthworms.
In order to occupy the market, merchants amplify the voltage as much as possible, and even boost the voltage to 13000V, using inferior ground wires, etc., which has caused many casualties.
In 2020 in Pei County, Jiangsu Province, a young man was electrocuted while testing an earthworm trap he had purchased in front of his home, leaving his parents in their seventies and two young daughters unattended. In 2022 in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, a villager in his 70s was electrocuted while using a homemade earth dragon instrument to catch earthworms......
Still, many people flock to it and dream of getting rich overnight.
Driven by profiteering
With the intensification of aging, the pharmaceutical industry has ushered in further development, and the demand for Dilong is also increasing, and there are 40 kinds of Chinese patent medicines on the market that contain Dilong, especially in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular drugs.
In 2012 and 2013, the highest price rose to 150 yuan/kg, and in 2021, the market price once rose to 275 yuan/kg, and the price of Dilong has increased 10 times in less than 20 years.
With the advancement of technology, the dragon machine is cheaper, the price is roughly around 200 yuan to 800 yuan, and the cost of self-production is lower.
For a time, from Guangdong to Henan, from Guizhou to Zhejiang, the whole country set off a frenzy of catching earthworms, every spring and summer night, the people who catch earthworms will carry buckets, wear rubber shoes, turn on the lights, and carry the earth dragon instrument to appear in the wild mountains and forests, countryside and fields, and keep catching earthworms that come out of the day and night.
From the delivery records of a foreign buyer interviewed by the reporter, it can be seen that in just three months, he sent out 1,804 kilograms of dried earthworms, according to the usual conversion of every 10 catties of wet earthworms dried into one pound of dried earthworms, the catch volume is more than 18,000 kilograms, and the profit is more than 40,000 yuan, and this is just an ordinary small self-employed person, the story of getting rich overnight is always staged, attracting countless practitioners.
The important value of earthworms has also attracted many people to start large-scale farming, for most farmers, breeding is time, cost, poor management and debt risk, large-scale farming prices are lower than wild earthworms, where is better than unrestrained, zero-cost, risk-free solitary? Although they also know that the existence of earthworms is beneficial to the soil, there are few ways to make money faster and easier than electric earthworms.
Through market research, it is found that wild capture is still the main source of Dilong medicinal materials, accounting for more than 70%.
As more people join, the number of wild earthworms is getting smaller and smaller, and the breeding cannot catch up with the catch, but the strong market demand has not only not changed, but also grown, resulting in a further increase in the purchase price of earthworms, and the promotion of self-media, more people have joined it, forming a vicious circle.
The dangers of killing earthworms in large quantities
In addition to the economic value, the wild earthworm is more important to have a high ecological value, the earthworm can loosen the soil, can improve the soil water storage and fertilizer retention and ventilation and moisture permeability, can make the fallen litter mixed into the soil layer below, accelerate the decomposition of organic matter.
The mucus they secrete can stick loose soil particles together, improve the soil aggregate structure, and enhance the resistance to erosion. It plays a special role in soil improvement, pollution elimination, ecological protection, and biodiversity.
In addition, the role of decomposer in the ecological cycle, earthworm quickly decomposes organic matter and releases the nutrients in it through feces, which is known as the "king of organic fertilizer".
Vermicompost is rich in microorganisms and auxins, which can provide nutrients for various fruits, vegetables and crops, so earthworms are called "nature's gardeners" and "biological ploughs in the field".
Once the earthworms are lost in the farmland, it will lead to problems such as soil compaction, and the degradation of the natural fertility of the soil, which will directly affect the development of agriculture and the food of hundreds of millions of people. Electric earthworms will not only harm earthworms, but also affect other organisms in the soil, such as nematodes, mites, spiders, etc., causing a devastating blow to the biological circulatory system and causing a series of ecological problems.
Therefore, in July 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation and seven other units, planned a special protection action to crack down on activities such as electrofishing of wild earthworms and the sale of illegally acquired and processed wild earthworms.
On December 30, the Wildlife Protection Law amended the relevant provisions to list the electrofishing of wild earthworms and related industries as an illegal act, and serious cases will be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law, and in January 2023, the No. 1 central document once again mentioned the need to crack down on electric earthworms and other bad behaviors.
With the intensification of law enforcement, illegal activities such as electric earthworms have been greatly curbed, but there are still people who have a weak sense of law, are driven by huge profits, choose to take risks, and have the luck psychology of not being held accountable by the law, but Skynet is restored and negligent, and it is a matter of time before they are caught, so don't be blinded by the immediate interests.
epilogue
Respect for nature, reverence for nature, and the protection of the diversity of species everyone has the responsibility and obligation, not a certain department or individual business, what is needed is the concerted efforts of the whole society, the relevant law enforcement departments have increased law enforcement, artificial breeding of earthworms is also developing in an orderly manner, we must also take action, find illegal acts to report in a timely manner, safeguard everyone's interests, do not stand idly by.
Bibliography:
Promote e-commerce platforms to cut off the electric earthworm industry chain.People's reporter Fan Yuehong
Earthworm Report: The Soil Warning Behind an Environmental Lawsuit.Farmer's Daily.Bai Fengzhe