At the earthworm breeding farm of Chenzhou Zhanxiang Green Agriculture Company, there is no odor in the farm area, and the staff are busy watering the earthworm breeding bed to ensure the temperature and humidity required for earthworm growth. 

 

Tang Faming, a technician at the earthworm farm, said that the earthworm farm can process 12 tons of agricultural waste every day. This helps solve the problem of environmental pollution and create certain economic values. 

 

 

 

Earthworms are the “engineers” of soil plowing. In recent years, the company has actively explored the ecological cycling production mode, organized staffs to visit Northeast China, Tianjin and other places, and successfully introduced earthworm varieties that are suitable for growth in the south and earthworm organic fertilizer production technology. It has also build a 30-mu (2 hectares) earthworm breeding farm. The earthworm manure organic fertilizer processing and production workshop covers an area of 5,000 square meters. 

 

The breeding farm uses earthworm biological breeding to process organic waste such as livestock and poultry manure, agricultural straws, kitchen waste and food waste on a large scale. It processes over 3,000 tons of organic waste annually, produces 2,800 tons of earthworm manure, and generates a production value of over 70 million yuan. 

 

 

 

“Traditional fertilizers can easily cause soil compaction and soil damage, leading to insufficient soil fertility and increased risk of diseases and pests. However, after experimental testing, not only the quality and taste of navel oranges treated with earthworm manure are improved, but also the yield of each fruit tree increases by about 4-5%,” said Ma Shengli, deputy general manager of the company, adding that the promotion and application of this production model has achieved ecological and economic benefits.

 

What’s more, relying on the first national citrus “digital orchard” built by the company, it achieved visual traceability and production and sales of the whole navel orange planting chain from soil moisture and environmental meteorological monitoring to disease and pest warning. 

 

 

 

With the help of modern technology and ecological concepts, the company has built 10 ecological planting bases in Yizhang County, with a planting area of over 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares). In 2023, the navel orange output reached 5 million kilograms. Its products are popular in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The green ecological planting model will be promoted locally.